NOTTINGHAM, MD—Baltimore County Councilman David Marks is speaking out against the effort to expand the Baltimore County Council by four seats.

The proposal to expand the Baltimore County Council by four seats is being pushed by the Vote4More coalition, a grassroots organization that is collecting signatures for a county charter amendment. The Vote4More coalition has been organizing since March 2022, and has collected 10,275 signatures so far.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., Maryland House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, Del. Eric Ebersole, Del. Sheila Ruth, Sen. Ben Brooks, and Baltimore County councilmen Pat Young and Julian Jones have all given Vote4More their seals of approval, according to the Baltimore Sun. Other Democrats, including Sen. Charles Sydnor and County Councilman Mike Ertel, previously endorsed the measure.

Fifth District Councilman David Marks is voicing his concerns over the proposal.

“Make no mistake – the effort to add four seats to the County Council has been spearheaded by partisan activists with the goal of wiping out two-party government in Baltimore County.” Councilman Marks said on Wednesday.  “The same state legislators backing this effort today supported extreme gerrymandering in Annapolis.  Government works best with balance and competition between both parties – not the monopoly pushed by partisan activists.”

It remains to be seen whether the expansion will be able to gain the necessary support to appear on the ballot in November.

This article was written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a human editor.