Maryland Senate panel advances GOP election board nominee who questioned 2020 ballot processing

BALTIMORE — Maryland state senators gave initial approval Monday to a Howard County Republican nominated to the State Board of Elections, overcoming concerns that included the nominee’s past questioning about the integrity of the 2020 election in the state.

Diane Butler was approved in a rare split among members of the Senate Executive Nominations Committee, with three of the 11 Democrats voting against her because of the previous public and private statements discovered during a vetting process.

The Ellicott City resident was nominated by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore earlier this month to fill one of the positions set aside for minority party members — in this case, through a recommendation from the Maryland Republican Party.

If confirmed by the entire 47-member Senate, she would replace Carlos Ayala, a Republican who resigned in January after his arrest on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Ayala, a former Perdue Farms executive from Salisbury, passed both the governor’s and the Senate’s vetting processes last year. His arrest was a surprise to many who had since worked with him through the five-member board that makes decisions around voting locations, deadlines and personnel for elections administration.

Butler — facing tougher questions from senators who feared a repeat situation — during her confirmation hearing earlier this month said she was at home and cleaning her fish tank during the Jan. 6 attack.

And though she said she believes the 2020 election results were correct and there was not widespread fraud, some senators had hesitations, including some stemming from a May 2021 email she sent to the State Board of Elections.

According to a copy of the email obtained by The Baltimore Sun, Butler sent the message to a state elections board staff member to share concerns about the chain of custody for mail-in ballots during the 2020 general election. Butler, a member of the Howard County Board of Elections at the time, said the transportation of those ballots from one location to another was not secure.

“I was utterly shocked at the lack of control of these ballots,” Butler wrote. “Anyone could have dumped stacks of ballots into the piles with no one the wiser. I understand it was COVID, but this was a mess.”

Though mail-in ballots increased in large numbers during the pandemic, there was no evidence of widespread security issues or incorrect vote tallying in Maryland. A person affiliated with the Howard County Board of Elections, whose name is redacted in the email provided to The Sun, sent an email shortly after that to other local election board members, though not Butler, and said the issues she referenced “simply aren’t true” and were “demeaning” to elections workers.

Asked in her confirmation hearing about the email, Butler said she believed the chain of custody of ballots was “kind of sloppy” and that there was room for improvement.

Another issue presented by Sen. Clarence Lam, an Anne Arundel County Democrat, in the hearing was around a Facebook post that she appeared to make during the pandemic. Commenting on a post about CDC masking guidance, Butler responded, “What’s next? Nazi armbands?”

Butler said she didn’t recall posting the message but said, “It could have been mine.”

Lam, one of the three votes against her Monday, said in an interview that her previous statements showed “poor judgement.”

“We, particularly in this day and age, need to have folks serving on the board of elections that really are careful and thoughtful in what they say,” Lam said.

The other Democrats to vote against her were Sens. Cory McCray, of Baltimore, and Will Smith, of Montgomery County. All four Republicans present voted to approve.

Sen. Craig Zucker, a member of the Maryland Legislative Jewish Caucus, voted to advance her nomination. He said before the vote that what public officials say matters but he believed what Butler said about masks would not necessarily impact her ability to serve on the elections board.

Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, when asked about the nomination Friday said there’s a higher level of scrutiny considering what happened with Ayala but also that there should be a “very high bar” for rejecting a minority party nominee.

“There would have to be significantly more information of concern to overcome that bar of potentially not moving forward,” Ferguson said.

The full Senate is expected to vote on her nomination in the remaining two weeks of the annual legislative session in Annapolis.

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