Victory for Slots Settles Long-Standing Question

The leading anti-slots group, Marylanders United to Stop Slots, whose public face was Comptroller Peter Franchot (D), had raised $570,773 as of the last reporting deadline.

Debate over slots dominated former governor Ehrlich's tenure. The legislature came closest to passing slots legislation in 2005, when competing plans passed the Senate and House. They were never reconciled.

Last year, O'Malley proposed ending the impasse by putting the issue to voters, hoping that passage would help close a projected budget gap.

The other constitutional amendment, to authorize voting as much as two weeks before Maryland elections, drew less attention but was opposed by Republican lawmakers.

In 2006, the legislature passed an early voting law over Ehrlich's objections. The law was later struck down by the courts as unconstitutional. The ballot measure would allow the legislature to enact a new law.

House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Calvert) recently said the proposal is "ripe for fraud" because it would allow people to vote early at polling places outside of their districts.

Staff writers Rosalind S. Helderman, Steve Hendrix and Susan Kinzie contributed to this report.