Maryland's Supreme Court issued a per curiam order Wednesday affirming that independent candidate Tonya Sweat will not appear on the November ballot for Prince George's County Executive, finding the record lacked sufficient evidence that election officials improperly invalidated her petition signatures. The ruling came the same day the justices heard oral arguments, closing out an expedited legal fight that began when county election officials disqualified more than a thousand of her signatures.
According to the court's order, obtained through official filings from the Supreme Court of Maryland, Sweat submitted 6,743 signatures across 1,608 petition pages on August 3. The Prince George's County Board of Elections invalidated 1,316 of them, leaving 5,427 valid signatures and making her 1,104 signatures short of the 6,531 valid signatures required under the state's 1% threshold. As WTOP News reported, her campaign was ultimately more than 1,000 signatures short of what election officials said was needed, and Prince George's County circuit court judges had already ruled against her twice before the case reached the state's highest court.
A Trial, Two Reports, and a Disputed Audit
Following a bench trial on September 3, the Circuit Court for Prince George's County rejected Sweat's complaint, ruling she failed to show the local election board incorrectly invalidated valid voter signatures, per the same court filings. The circuit court also declared all other pending motions moot. WTOP's reporting noted the board of elections gave Sweat's campaign two reports. Sweat said the reports did not match or reconcile, according to the outlet's account of the hearing.
An analysis of the rejected petition entries found more than 100 signatures were invalid duplicates and nearly 400 belonged to people who were not registered voters in Prince George's County, as reported by WJLA and cited by mdbaynews.com. Sweat disputed the election board's audit reporting throughout her court challenges. Dennis Whitley III represented the board of elections. During arguments, Chief Justice Matthew Fader asked why that detailed report was not provided as a matter of course.
Why the Case Moved So Fast
The 30-minute hearing before Maryland's highest court unfolded on an unusually compressed timeline because ballots must be finalized soon for printing. The approaching deadline required election officials to move quickly.
Under Maryland Code Election Law § 5-703(d)(1), unaffiliated candidates seeking countywide office must obtain signatures equal to the lesser of 10,000 registered voters or 1% of the total registered voters eligible to vote for that office — a requirement that does not apply to major-party primary winners. The provision sets the signature requirement for unaffiliated candidates seeking countywide office.
A Third Run at County Executive
Sweat is an attorney and community advocate who previously served as a director at the National Credit Union Administration, and this campaign marked her third bid for Prince George's County Executive since 2022, according to The Beltsville News. She represented herself during the trial proceedings. Her opponent, Democratic nominee Aisha Braveboy, won the June 23 Democratic primary after previously winning a special election in June 2025 to complete the term of former County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, who left the post after winning election to the U.S. Senate.
With the Supreme Court of Maryland confirming she won't appear on the printed ballot, Sweat has said she intends to run as a write-in candidate in November if the court ruled against her. Maryland's electorate includes unaffiliated, Democratic and Republican voters. The ballot fight underscores the steep climb facing independent candidates like Sweat.
