Public Data Aggregation Policy & Legal Disclaimers

OpenElections SoMD operates strictly as a civic aggregator and informational index. Content published on this website—including candidate biographies, stated platform positions, policy quotes, campaign finance links, and media timelines—is compiled exclusively from publicly accessible primary sources, including:

• Official candidate campaign websites, digital platforms, and verified public press releases.
• Publicly certified candidate filings and disclosures with the Maryland State Board of Elections (SBE) and the Maryland Campaign Reporting Information System (MDCRIS).
• Published reporting, election debates, candidate questionnaires, and news articles from local and regional media organizations (including The BayNet, The Southern Maryland Chronicle, Southern Maryland News Net, and Maryland Matters).
• Public forum transcripts, governmental meeting minutes of the St. Mary's Board of County Commissioners, and public legislative records.

OpenElections SoMD does not perform investigative reporting, editorial endorsements, or original accusations against any individual. All candidate statements are quoted verbatim or summarized directly from their respective source materials with transparent hyperlinks to allow voters to review the primary source.

Pursuant to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. § 230), OpenElections SoMD and its operating technology partners act as an interactive computer service provider and intermediary that displays, organizes, and aggregates content provided by third parties (such as candidate campaigns, official government databases, and accredited news outlets).

Statements made by political candidates or news reporters remain solely the expressions and opinions of those third parties. The presence of any aggregated article, statement, or quote on this website does not constitute an endorsement, adoption, or ratification of such statement by OpenElections SoMD.

OpenElections SoMD is entirely non-partisan. We do not endorse, rank, evaluate, fund, or oppose any candidate, political party, committee, or ballot referendum.

Our comparison tools present candidates in a neutral, standardized format. Every candidate in a given race is afforded equivalent structure, and stances are categorized based on factual policy categories (e.g. Education, Public Safety, Economy, Taxes) rather than subjective grading.

This website may contain copyrighted material (such as candidate campaign headshots, brief quotes from news articles, or public campaign logos) whose use has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.

Such material is made available strictly for educational, informational, and civic purposes to inform voters on the democratic process. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17, Section 107 of the United States Copyright Act.