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Maryland Statutes § 13-602 Prohibited acts

⤴ Up to Subtitle 6: Prohibited Acts And Penalties

Statute Text

(a)
(1) A person may not directly or indirectly give, offer, or promise money, aid, a gift, an advantage, a preferment, an emolument, or any other valuable thing to another person for the purpose of inducing or procuring that person to vote or refrain from voting for or against:
(i) an individual, question, or measure at an election or political convention; or
(ii) the election of an officer by the General Assembly.
(2) A person may not directly or indirectly receive, accept, request, or solicit money, aid, a gift, an advantage, a preferment, an emolument, or any other valuable thing from another person for the purpose of inducing or procuring a third person to vote or refrain from voting for or against an individual, question, or measure at an election or political convention.
(3) A person may not vote or refrain from voting for or against an individual, question, or measure at an election or a political convention, in consideration of money, aid, a gift, an advantage, a preferment, an emolument, or any other valuable thing paid, received, accepted, or promised to the advantage of that person or of another person.
(4)
(i) A person, to defray the costs of a campaign finance entity, may not directly or indirectly pay, give, or promise money or any other valuable thing to any person other than a campaign finance entity.
(ii) Subparagraph (i) of this paragraph does not apply to:
1. dues regularly paid for membership in a political club if all of the money that is spent by that political club in connection with any campaign finance activity is paid through a treasurer as provided in this title;
2. an individual volunteering the individual's time or personal vehicle in accordance with § 13-232 of this title;
3. an employer's accumulation of employee contributions in accordance with § 13-242 of this title; or
4. advertising costs or other expenses incident to the expression of personal views in accordance with § 13-102 of this title.
(5) A person may not directly or indirectly pay or promise to pay a campaign finance entity in a name other than the person's name.
(6) A responsible officer of a campaign finance entity may not knowingly receive a payment or promise of payment and enter it or cause it to be entered in an account book in a name that the responsible officer knows is not the name of the person that made the payment or the promise to pay.
(7) An employer who pays employees in envelopes may not mark on or enclose in the envelopes a political motto, device, or argument that contains express or implied threats intended to influence the political opinions or actions of those employees.
(8) During the 90 days before an election, an employer may not exhibit in the employer's workplace:
(i) a threat, a notice, or information that, on the election or defeat of a particular ticket or candidate:
1. work will cease, wholly or partly;
2. the workplace will close; or
3. employees' wages will be reduced; or
(ii) any other threat, expressed or implied, intended to influence the political opinions or actions of the employer's employees.
(9) A person may not:
(i) publish or distribute, or cause to be published or distributed, campaign material that violates § 13-401 of this title; or
(ii) publish, distribute, or disseminate, or cause to be published, distributed, or disseminated, campaign material that violates § 13-401.1 of this title.
(10) A candidate may not make a payment, contribution, or expenditure, or incur a liability to pay, contribute, or expend, from the candidate's personal funds any money or valuable thing in a manner not authorized by § 13-230 of this title.
(11) An individual may not sign the name of any other individual on any form or other document under this title, without the authority of the individual whose name is signed.
(b) A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is:
(1) subject to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or both; and
(2) ineligible to hold any public or party office for 4 years after the date of the offense.
(c)
(1) The State Prosecutor may prosecute, in any jurisdiction of the State, a person that the State Prosecutor believes to be guilty of a willful violation of this section.
(2) A State's Attorney may prosecute a person that the State's Attorney believes to be guilty of a willful violation of this section in the county in which the State's Attorney serves.

History

Amended by 2020 Md. Laws, Ch. 216 , Sec. 1 , eff. 6/1/2020 .

Amended by 2018 Md. Laws, Ch. 460 , Sec. 1 , eff. 1/1/2019 .

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