Maryland Democratic Party Executive Director David Sloan issued the following statement after Maryland Republicans officially announced how many signatures they submitted in their effort to petition the Congressional Districting Plan to referendum:

Despite exhausting all of their limited resources on the redistricting petition, the Maryland Republican Party has fallen far short of their intended goal. The GOP has failed to convince even their own activists to support their far-right, tea party agenda. Voters will see the GOP’s referendum effort as a desperate partisan power-grab designed to overturn a redistricting plan that reflects Maryland’s diversity, creates more competitive districts and was upheld by the US Supreme Court.

Pending the State Board of Elections’ determination that the validated petition signatures satisfy constitutional requirements, the Maryland Democratic Party will weigh all options to protect the integrity of the referendum process and ensure that every petition was completed and collected in line with Maryland laws and regulations.

This November, we are confident that Maryland voters will once again resoundingly reject Maryland’s dead end Republicans, and will choose to move forward with President Obama and Democrats.