Voters in Maryland, Virginia and the District are heading to the polls Tuesday to cast ballots in races for Congress and local governments and school boards in addition to the presidential election. With control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate at stake, both major parties and the political action committees that support their candidates have poured millions of dollars into races in the region where seats are either vulnerable or open after the incumbent chose not to seek reelection.

Here we are. Election Day, at last. Columnists being what they are, I’ve got some predictions. Vice President Kamala Harris will win Pennsylvania, thanks to massive turnout around Philadelphia and Maryland Democrats who crossed the state line to register and motivate voters. Midwest blue-wall states will hold, and she’ll pick up one or more of the Sun Belt states.

At a mini-rally outside the State House Monday, a group of elected officials and community leaders had a message for fellow Black men: It’s not too late to make their voices heard. The event by the group Win With Black Men tried to rally support among Black male voters for Black women candidates, specifically Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and for Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, the Democrat running for U.S. Senate.

What would you do if, despite working full-time, you didn’t earn enough to cover the basics? What would you do if, after buying groceries and covering the rent, you had to decide which expenses to delay? Your choices: an essential car repair, a vital doctor appointment, or safe, nurturing child care. Do you fix the car so you can get to work on time? Do you finally see the doctor, preventing your health issue from spiraling into a medical crisis?

Maryland’s top election official said voters can be confident in the security of the state’s mail-in voting system, brushing back issues raised over the weekend by state Republican Party officials. The party statement Sunday followed an incident last week when an official with the Carroll County Republican Central Committee tailed the county’s election director, as she picked up ballots from a drop box and drove them back to the county election board offices.

 

“Earned wage access” is marketed as a means of making it easier for workers to get their paychecks before payday. In reality, these so-called EWA advances are exorbitant loans that harm workers by putting them in a worse financial position than before they borrowed money in the first place. With “fees” and “tips” that the lenders require or solicit, EWA advances are loans with interest rates that regularly exceed 100%, and often exceed 300%, far above interest rates allowed by Maryland law.

The future of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is on the ballot this year, with voters set to weigh in on whether the once-heralded space should be amended to allow for apartments and commercial use. On one side is a development company, backed by City Hall and former mayors, that has cast the roughly $900 million proposal as an opportunity to revitalize Harborplace.

If you’re thinking of taking a selfie with your ballot in the voting booth, think again. Maryland law prohibits taking photos in the voting booth, though photos with a mail-in ballot or outside a polling place are allowed. Tuesday’s election is likely the last one with that prohibition. At its meeting in late October, the State Board of Elections gave preliminary approval to new regulations that permit people to take photos of their own ballots for personal use.

A local trucking company has won $25 million in federal funding to build charging infrastructure for electric trucks near the Port of Baltimore. Sparrows Point-based Capital Logistics will use the money to electrify its own fleet and build a commercial charging hub for companies that ship into and out of the port zone. The exact location has not been chosen yet, but the company is looking to build close to the port.

The owners of a Bel Air auto dealership have donated $20 million to the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health, the largest gift in the organization’s history. The donation from Jones Junction owners Danny and Gail Jones will support the behavioral health program and several capital projects at the Harford County health system.