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Gender No Longer Required on MD Voter Registration Forms

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Voters in Maryland will no longer be required to identify themselves as male or female when they register to vote.

The Baltimore Sun reports that the Maryland State Board of Elections will soon allow voters to choose "X" or "unspecified" as a gender when they fill out voter registration forms.

The new option comes after the state moved recently to give Marylanders a third option for gender on their driver's licenses.

Elections officials say the change can be made without any costs incurred. Existing paper forms that only offer the option of "male" and "female" will be used until they run out, and new forms will contain the third option.

The state elections board voted unanimously in favor of the change last week.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.