Tea at Trianon: Maryland Board Of Elections Announces Significant Mail-In Ballot Error For June 2026 Primary

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Maryland Board Of Elections Announces Significant Mail-In Ballot Error For June 2026 Primary

From Jan Greenhawk at The Easton Gazette:

It shouldn't be this difficult to get elections right in Maryland. After all, Maryland is a relatively small state with approximately 4,312,855 registered voters (18th out of 50) compared to states like California with over twenty-three million. Neighboring states Virginia (12th out of 50) and Pennsylvania (5th out of 50). Of course, those states have their own problems with voting.

Many of these problems center around mail in ballots. That is no surprise.

Maryland election officials have confirmed this past week that there has been a significant mail‑in ballot error affecting the June 2026 primary, prompting the statewide reissuance of all previously mailed ballots. The problem stems from a vendor mistake that caused some voters to receive the wrong party’s ballot for the gubernatorial primary, with Democrats receiving Republican ballots and vice versa.

This error occurred with an estimated 500,000 mail in ballots sent to voters after May 14th, 2026. The error does not affect anyone who was mailed a ballot before May 14, 2026, or those who received/requested their mail-in ballot by web delivery (Print at Home ballot).Since the state cannot determine who got a faulty ballot, all the voters who received mail in ballots after that date will get replacements.

The vendor was blamed as making the mistake and not the local boards. It has not been determined if the vendor will be held financially responsible for the mistake or if taxpayers will bear the expense which some estimate could be seven figures.

One of the biggest concerns is how the state will keep those who received both faulty and replacement ballot from mailing in TWO ballots. (Read more.)