The War Memorial building in downtown Baltimore. Photo: Smash the Iron Cage, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
If unofficial election returns from the Maryland State Board of Elections are later certified, the Baltimore City charter amendments on the Nov. 3 ballot would not all take effect at once.
The official 2026 ballot question text spells out the timeline. Most of the changes in Question F, on legislation, the budget and the Board of Estimates, and in Question G, on franchises and minor privileges, would take effect on Dec. 3, 2026. Question F’s new veto and override deadlines would wait until Dec. 5, 2028. Charter sections that Questions E, F and G would remove would come out on Nov. 7, 2028, unless an ordinance or regulation covering that subject is adopted sooner. Question H, which would create a Department of Water and Wastewater, would take effect on Jan. 1, 2029.
The official text for Question I, the Baltimore Baby Fund, does not list a delayed effective date the way the other charter questions do. Unofficial results, still unmarked as certified, show all five city charter questions leading in Baltimore City, with all 295 election-day precincts reported on the State Board’s unofficial results page.
