Early on April 9, the Maryland legislature adjourned for the year. Two bills to vastly increase the difficult of petitioning in Maryland failed to pass. They were HB 493 and SB 673. They had provided that signers of petitions must include their date of birth, and mandated that each page of the petition inform signers that all the information on the petition would be a public record. The bills also made it illegal for the circulator of the petition to sign a petition sheet as a voter. And it would have barred anyone from petitioning unless he or she had first taken a course provided by election officials. Thanks to Paul Jacob for this news.