Maryland Forward Party

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Mission Statement

The Maryland Forward Party, in association with the national Forward Party, will redefine the political processes; supporting candidates and advocating for policies which collaboratively build a Maryland where we all want to live.

Core Values

More Collaboration, Less Partisan Conflict

The people of Maryland are tired of choosing between the lesser of two evils. We work to reform and dismantle systems intended to suppress the voice of voters, divide communities, and entrench tribalism. We support efforts to listen and incorporate all points of view into the political process.

Better Governance Through Problem Solving

Partisan bickering over solutions and one-size-fits-all policy platforms are not effective in our communities, which are growing more diverse and complex every year. We support enabling citizens and their elected officials to pursue multiple simultaneous solutions in order to find the best path(s) Forward and better meet the nuanced needs of each community. At the same time, in order to build confidence in our democracy, elected officials must also be held accountable for their choices and subject to the same laws that they impose on others.

Protect the Rights of All People

Everyone has the right to be safe and flourish in the places where we learn, work, and live. We work to ensure that all people retain their inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, under the United States Constitution and the Constitution of Maryland, and the Bill of Rights. We oppose all acts of hatred, harassment, or discrimination that seek to marginalize, restrict, or diminish the lives of others. We support diversity, the freedom of choice, and the equity of opportunity for everyone.

Principles for Conduct

1. Practice grace and tolerance in communications and interactions with others.
2.Embrace bottom-up solutions for local communities, rather than dictating a rigid, top-down policy platform.
3. Encourage diverse thinking. Welcome new ideas and fearless conversations around the issues of the day, through respectful debate.
4. Commit to conversation with those who hold opposing views and find common ground to effect compromise where possible.
5. Commit to free people by revitalizing a culture that celebrates difference and individual choice, rejects hatred, and removes barriers so that each of us can rise to our full potential.
6. Strongly oppose all acts of dehumanization because We Are All Marylanders.
7. Display actions and language of unity and be a leader for the whole community.
8. Commit to solving problems and use data to analyze approaches and results.
9. Commit to transparency through public disclosures of financial contributions, conflicts of interest, and any and all affiliations or agreements with special interest groups and lobbyists.
10. Conduct oneself with dignity and abstain from derogatory strategies.
11. Avoid any acts of defamation, harassment, or discrimination, and refrain from adopting rhetoric and materials that divide communities and entrench tribalism.
12. Commit to truth, while identifying and correcting misinformation.

Legislative Priorities

1. Ranked Choice Voting

PROBLEMS: Our current “plurality” voting system awards the position to the candidate who gets the most votes. While this appears logical, in reality the winner of any race with more than two candidates is often elected by a minority of voters due to a “spoiler effect”. Voters who might be happy with several potential candidates are forced to choose only one. They also cannot express their dissatisfaction with other candidates. This disregard for second and third choices means that it is possible for candidates to win with only 20%, 30%, or 40% support, not a majority.

SOLUTIONS: Maryland Forward identifies Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) as our primary voting procedure reform, though other variations may also be considered depending on the needs and opportunities within a community. Also called “instant runoff elections”, ranked choice voting allows voters to choose their first, second, third, etc. choices on the same ballot. The result is a traceable record that every winning candidate was approved by at least 50% of the voters.

RCV in various forms has been in use in the United States and other democratic countries for over 100 years. It is used in Alaska state, congressional, and presidential elections; in Maine for congressional and presidential elections; in Washington DC for all elections; and in various localities throughout the United States (source: Wikipedia. Need updated info, post-2024 elections). We believe that RCV will require candidates to appeal to a broader segment of the community and will greatly reduce the animosity we currently see in our tribalized politics.

2. Single All-Candidates Primaries

PROBLEMS: Even though our primary elections are publicly funded, 20% of Maryland taxpayers (approximately 900,000 people) are currently not permitted to participate, because of closed primaries. In addition, those closed primaries only represent the top 2 political parties in the state, conferring obvious bias to voters.

SOLUTIONS: Single All-Candidates Primaries will allow all candidates to run simultaneously regardless of political party and will show the breadth of candidate possibilities to the constituency. All registered voters will be eligible to participate and a pre-set number of top selected candidates proceed to the general election (e.g., top 4). Forward believes this will encourage a more diverse slate of candidates, discourage extremes, and allow elected officials independence to disagree with their own parties without being primaried.

3. Independent Redistricting Commissions

PROBLEMS: Maryland is among the top 5 worst politically gerrymandered states in the country. In most states, redistricting is performed by the legislature, which means that the party in power normally draws new legislative districts in their favor. This normally means that voters in minority groups are not fairly represented in the legislature or congress. We should be choosing our elected officials, they should not be choosing us.

SOLUTIONS: An Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) is a body separate from the legislature that is responsible for drawing legislative or congressional districts. They must adhere to strict criteria, such as complying with federal and state constitutions, equal population, protecting language and racial minorities, partisan fairness, compactness and contiguity, among others, thereby removing bias from the process. Effective IRCs also require the commission to hold public hearings, make the data being used to draw maps publicly available, and allow voters to submit maps to the commission online. In 2021, 22 states utilized IRCs to draw legislative and/or state congressional maps. (source: Campaignlegal.org).

4. Legislative Vacancies Reform

PROBLEMS: 25% of Maryland’s current State Legislature initially entered their position by bypassing the election and campaigning process. This was done through legal loopholes in our election laws. Maryland state law currently allows vacancies in the legislative body to be filled by a political party through appointments from within their own ranks. On the surface this seems to be a logical solution, however this process is being abused by strategically vacating legislative seats, prior to an election, filling that seat from within that political party’s loyal ranks, and then easily winning the upcoming election, since incumbencies regularly win elections by over 90%. This process bypasses Maryland Voters and our democracy.

SOLUTIONS: Maryland Forward Party supports the use of Special Elections or Citizen Assemblies as an alternative to appointments. Citizen Assemblies convene a much smaller subset of voters to represent the vacated district, chosen randomly using the same demographic information as the voting populace in a manner similar to Jury Duty. The result is the same as a Special Election but at a small fraction of the price of a Special Election. It also ensures that the winner is chosen by the people of that vacated district instead of by party leaders. These types of reform will ensure Maryalnd voters are deciding who represents them in the State House, rather than a small group of in-power insiders.

5. Prioritized Community Issues

PROBLEMS: We recognize that the various communities (e.g., Rural, Suburban, Urban, Faith Communities, Immigrant Residents, LGBTQ+, Parents & Guardians, Racial & Ethnic Minority Groups, Seniors, Small Businesses, Specially Abled, Unions & Professional Associations, Veterans & Veteran Familles, Women, Young Voters) have issues that require our attention. We also recognize that our small group does not have enough expertise to identify and define specific solutions to these problems and that these communities are better able to do that themselves.

SOLUTIONS: Maryland Forward Party will sponsor Community Groups (the above listed are a start and can be increased as needed) to identify issues important to them and bring forward solutions they wish to be acted upon by the Party. In this way, we live by our “bottom-up” solutions and are not dictating “top-down” priorities. These groups are open to all Maryland Forward Party Members and will provide additional legislative priorities on which our team will focus. We will update this list quarterly as it grows.