MD-4 Special Election set for June 17

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Things have been streamlined in Maryland, and Donna Edwards will be going to Congress and Denver:

A special election to fill a pending vacancy in Maryland’s 4th Congressional District will be held June 17 under legislation, signed Thursday afternoon by Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley, that allows a speedier schedule than usually allowed under state election statutes. The law ...will allow Maryland officials to skip a step in the state’s special election process following the upcoming resignation of eight-term Democratic Rep. Albert R. Wynn. O’Malley ... said he would issue a proclamation Friday establishing June 17, a Tuesday, as the special election date. ...

The law authorizes O’Malley to issue a proclamation, setting the special general election date, within 10 days after the date that “an office of representative in Congress becomes vacant or the governor accepts a written notice from the representative announcing a future date of resignation.” The date would have to fall between 36 days and 60 days after the notification, which he received from Wynn last week. ...

Wynn, who had been expected to serve out his term after losing his Feb. 12 Democratic House primary to lawyer Donna Edwards, decided instead to resign his seat effective May 31 to join a Washington, D.C., law firm.

We were skeptical that elections like this could be scheduled before a resignation actually happened, but we guess state laws can make anything possible, and Wynn sending O'Malley an official notice of future resignation was enough to start the clocks running. Donna Edwards is a prohibitive favorite to win the Special Election, and therefore should be in Congress before summer starts, and she will be a superdelegate in Denver. Edwards has endorsed Barack Obama.