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State & Region

Eastern Shore Secession Referendum Floated, Then Rejected, in Annapolis

Delegate Tom Hutchinson sought a nine-county secession question during the Aug. 3 redistricting debate. The House killed it by voice vote — so the Talbot County Board of Elections will not put any such measure on local ballots.

Owen Briggs, a State & Region desk pen name ·

Maryland State House dome under a hard sky
AI-generated illustration; not a photograph of Maryland State House dome under a hard sky.

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND — During an August 3 floor debate over congressional redistricting, Delegate Tom Hutchinson proposed asking voters in nine Eastern Shore counties, including Talbot, whether the region should secede from Maryland. The House rejected the amendment by voice vote.

Hutchinson argued a redistricting map could leave the Shore without a member of Congress who lives there, saying lawmakers in Annapolis only value the region for "crabs, Ocean City, and Orange Crushes." Delegate Marc Korman countered by citing state investment in the region.

Had the amendment passed, the Talbot County Board of Elections would have been the local body charged with putting a secession question before Talbot voters. It will not. The proposal died on the floor; no referendum reaches county ballots here.

Source: WBOC

Drawn from public records; drafted with AI and edited by Peter Gorman before publication.

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