As we continue to hunker down in our homes (and that includes Midday host Tom Hall), a conversation about two very important elections coming up in the next couple of months.

Voters in the 7th Congressional District have three weeks to vote for a successor to the late Congressman Elijah Cummings. Democrat Kweisi Mfume is running against Republican Kimberly Klacik to fill the remaining time in the late congressman’s term. Voters will vote by mail. Ballots must be postmarked no later than April 28th.

Ballots should start arriving in the mailboxes of 7th District voters soon. If you don’t receive a ballot this week, you should go on line or call the Board of Elections to be sure you get a ballot in time.

We'll talk about the second election, the re-scheduled June 2nd primary for local and national races, in our segment later this hour with Democratic candidate Dan Sparaco, who's running to be the next City Council President.

Last Friday here on Midday, we talked with the Secretary of State of Washington, Kim Wyman, who has overseen mail-in elections there for several years. Today, Tom checks in with a former Secretary of State of Maryland who is a nationally recognized expert on voting procedures and election reform.

John Willis joins us on the line. He is Executive in Residence at the University of Baltimore’s School of Public and International Affairs. While serving as Maryland's secretary of state from 1995 to 2003, he was deeply involved in election reform efforts at both the state and national levels. He chaired Maryland's Special Committee on Voting Systems and Election Procedures, which led to landmark legislation and implementation of election reform measures in 2001. John Willis also served on the Commission to Revise the Election Code, which modernized and recodified Maryland's election laws.

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