Southern Maryland Candidates Bypass Primaries, Seek 2026 Ballot Through Petitions

LEXINGTON PARK, Md. — Several candidates seeking offices that represent voters in Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties are pursuing a less common route to the 2026 general election ballot, relying on voter signatures rather than party primaries to qualify for November’s election.

According to candidate filings with the Maryland State Board of Elections, six candidates from Southern Maryland have filed as unaffiliated candidates, including several county commissioner hopefuls, a candidate for the House of Delegates, and candidates for Maryland’s 5th Congressional District. Maryland law permits candidates who are not affiliated with a political party to seek nomination by petition rather than through a partisan primary.

At the county level, the candidates include Steve Jones, who is seeking one of the Calvert County at-large commissioner seats; Eric Vrem, who is seeking to be Charles County commissioner in District 4; and Mike Alderson Jr., who is running to retain his seat as St. Mary’s County commissioner in District 3. Jones and Vrem each filed declarations of intent on July 6, while Alderson filed earlier in the election cycle.

Beyond county government, petition efforts extend to higher offices. Jonathan Burruss and Brian Jordan have both filed as unaffiliated petition candidates for Maryland’s 5th Congressional District, which includes all of Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties, along with parts of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties. Anbrea McCoy has also filed as an independent candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates in District 28, which includes mostly Charles County.

Under Maryland law, petition candidates must first file a declaration of intent with the appropriate election board. State regulations require that the declaration be filed in person. Filing the declaration alone does not place a candidate on the ballot.

For the 2026 election cycle, petition candidates were required to file their declarations of intent by 5 p.m. on July 6. Candidates have until 5 p.m. on Aug. 3 to submit their petitions, certificates of candidacy, financial disclosure forms and filing fees. Election officials must receive those documents by the deadline; postmarks are not accepted.

The most significant hurdle for petition candidates is gathering enough valid signatures. Maryland law generally requires candidates to submit signatures from the lesser of 10,000 registered voters or 1% of the registered voters eligible to vote for the office sought, with a minimum requirement of 250 valid signatures.

For most local offices in Southern Maryland, the practical threshold is 1% of eligible registered voters within the district. Unaffiliated candidates seeking statewide office face a 10,000-signature requirement.

After petitions are submitted, election officials begin a verification process designed to ensure the signatures were provided by eligible registered voters. Officials compare signatures and voter information against Maryland’s voter registration records and review petition forms for compliance with state requirements.

The petition process provides an avenue for candidates who either choose not to seek a major-party nomination or who wish to run outside Maryland’s traditional Democratic and Republican structures. While petition candidates historically represent a small portion of the overall field, their campaigns often focus heavily on direct voter contact because every signature collected can determine whether they qualify for ballot access.

With the unaffiliated filing deadline approaching, voters will soon know what their full scope of options will be come Election Day on Nov. 3.

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