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Dorchester County, Maryland
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==Politics, government and law== Dorchester County operates under the charter home rule form of government, and the affairs of the county are managed by five county council members. Each is elected from a [[single-member district]] defined within the county. Meetings of the county council are held weekly. The agenda and the minutes of each week's proceedings are public record.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Overview |url=https://www.dorchestercountymd.com/overview/ |access-date=December 10, 2019 |website=Dorchester County Government}}</ref> In earlier times, unlike highly secessionist [[Wicomico County, Maryland|Wicomico]], [[Worcester County, Maryland|Worcester]], [[Queen Anne's County, Maryland|Queen Anne's]] and [[Cecil County, Maryland|Cecil]] counties,<ref>Levine, Mark V.; "Standing Political Decisions and Critical Realignment: The Pattern of Maryland Politics, 1872-1948", ''[[The Journal of Politics]]'', volume '''38''', no. 2, May 1976, pp. 292-325</ref> Dorchester was a swing county in the late 19th century due to the voting power of its [[freedman]] population, who strongly supported the Republican Party. The conservative whites voted Democratic for [[William Jennings Bryan]] in 1908, after Maryland had passed laws raising barriers to voter registration among blacks, resulting in a dramatic drop in their voting until after passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s.<ref>Menendez, Albert J., ''The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004'', pp. 220-221 {{ISBN|0786422173}}</ref> The white population of Dorchester has historically voted very conservatively. Along with rock-ribbed [[Union (American Civil War)|Unionist]] [[Garrett County, Maryland|Garrett County]], located in Appalachia, its white majority was one of only two Maryland counties to vote for [[Barry Goldwater]] in 1964. During the following election, Dorchester was the only county in the state where the segregationist [[George Wallace]] outpolled either [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] or [[Hubert Humphrey|Humphrey]]. In the late 20th century, white conservatives in the South shifted from the Democratic to the Republican Party. Since then the only Democratic presidential nominee to carry Dorchester County was southern native son [[Bill Clinton]] in 1996. The county has trended less conservative in recent years, with Democrat [[Barack Obama]] coming within five percentage points of beating [[Mitt Romney]] in the [[2012 United States presidential election|2012 presidential election]]; Obama won nationally. ===Voter registration=== {| class=wikitable ! colspan = 6 | Voter registration and party enrollment as of March 2024<ref name="MDBOE">{{Cite web |title=Maryland Board of Elections Voter Registration Activity Report March 2024 |url=https://elections.maryland.gov/pdf/vrar/2024_03.pdf |access-date=April 9, 2024 |website=Maryland Board of Elections}}</ref> |- | {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}} | [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] | align = center | {{formatnum: 9521}} | align = center | {{Percentage |9521 |23,348 |2}} |- | {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}} | [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] | align = center | {{formatnum: 9229}} | align = center | {{Percentage |9229 |23,348 |2}} |- | {{party color cell|Independent Party (United States)}} | Unaffiliated | align = center | {{formatnum: 4221}} | align = center | {{Percentage |4221 |23,348 |2}} |- | {{party color cell|Libertarian Party (United States)}} | [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]] | align = center | {{formatnum: 115}} | align = center | {{Percentage |115 |23,348 |2}} |- | {{party color cell|None}} | [[Third party (U.S. politics)|Other parties]] | align = center | {{formatnum: 262}} | align = center | {{Percentage |262 |23,348 |2}} |- ! colspan = 2 | Total ! align = center | {{formatnum: 23,348 }} ! align = center | {{Percentage |100}} |} {{PresHead|place=Dorchester County, Maryland|source=<ref>{{Cite web |last=Leip |first=David |title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections |url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS |access-date=June 11, 2018 |website=uselectionatlas.org}}</ref>}} <!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} --> {{PresRow|2024|Republican|9,390|6,954|428|Maryland}} {{PresRow|2020|Republican|8,764|6,857|356|Maryland}} {{PresRow|2016|Republican|8,413|6,245|567|Maryland}} {{PresRow|2012|Republican|7,976|7,257|211|Maryland}} {{PresRow|2008|Republican|8,168|6,912|194|Maryland}} {{PresRow|2004|Republican|7,801|5,411|127|Maryland}} {{PresRow|2000|Republican|5,847|5,232|313|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1996|Democratic|4,337|4,613|1,104|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1992|Republican|4,934|3,933|2,090|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1988|Republican|6,343|3,709|88|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1984|Republican|6,699|3,160|122|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1980|Republican|5,160|4,908|482|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1976|Republican|4,768|4,528|0|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1972|Republican|6,859|2,136|154|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1968|Republican|4,183|2,714|3,217|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1964|Republican|5,327|4,564|0|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1960|Democratic|4,626|4,964|0|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1956|Republican|5,809|3,733|0|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1952|Republican|5,524|4,823|152|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1948|Democratic|3,751|4,507|93|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1944|Democratic|4,241|4,764|0|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1940|Democratic|3,953|6,088|87|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1936|Democratic|3,735|5,293|11|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1932|Democratic|3,466|4,547|39|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1928|Republican|6,333|2,180|22|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1924|Republican|3,356|3,047|209|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1920|Republican|4,218|3,950|42|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1916|Democratic|2,468|2,750|102|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1912|Democratic|2,387|2,509|433|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1908|Democratic|2,627|2,769|89|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1904|Republican|2,680|2,087|102|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1900|Republican|3,366|2,733|143|Maryland}} {{PresRow|1896|Republican|3,048|2,638|149|Maryland}} {{PresFoot|1892|Republican|2,365|2,015|217|Maryland}} ===Law enforcement=== The county is policed by the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office (DSO), the [[Maryland State Police]], and the [[Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police|DNR Police]]. The DSO is a full service agency, headed by Sheriff James W. Phillips Jr. since December 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sheriff James W. Phillips, Jr. |url=https://docosheriff.com/sheriff/ |access-date=December 10, 2019 |website=Dorchester County Sheriff's Office}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 29, 2015 |title=James W. Phillips, Jr., Sheriff, Dorchester County, Maryland |url=https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/36loc/do/jud/sheriffs/html/msa14125.html |access-date=December 10, 2019 |website=Maryland Manual On-Line |publisher=Maryland State Archives}}</ref>
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