Editing Cecil County, Maryland (section)

==Politics, government and law==
{{see also|List of county executives of Maryland#Cecil}}
In the early post-[[American Civil War|Civil War]] period, Cecil County, having been generally pro-secession, leaned strongly towards the Democratic Party.<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> It was carried by the Democratic Party nominee in every Presidential election between 1868 and 1920 except that of 1896 when the Northeast was vigorously opposed to [[William Jennings Bryan]]’s “free silver” policy. Since Dwight Eisenhower carried the county in 1952, Cecil County has become a solidly Republican county. The last Democrat to carry the county was [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1976.

Prior to December 3, 2012, Cecil County was governed by county commissioners, the traditional form of county government in Maryland. On that date, Cecil County began governance under a new charter approved via voter referendum in November 2010, which authorized an elected [[List of county executives of Maryland|county executive]] and a five-member County Council, which separates the legislative and executive functions of local government (unlike the old "board of commissioner" system). Cecil County thus joined most of the other larger, increasingly urban and complex county governments in central Maryland with county executive-county council forms, such as Baltimore, Harford, Anne Arundel, Howard, Prince George's, and Montgomery counties.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ecode360.com/15790669|title=Cecil County, MD: Charter|website=Ecode360.com|access-date=March 8, 2022}}</ref> Elected on November 5, 2024, Adam Streight (R) is the current County Executive.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ccgov.org/government/office-of-the-county-executive|title=Office of the County Executive {{!}} Cecil County|website=Ccgov.org|access-date=December 3, 2024}}</ref>

In addition, Cecil County is an area that has some home rule in its towns, in places such as [[Perryville, Maryland|Perryville]] and [[North East, Maryland|North East]], who have town governments, and hence have minimal county reliance.

===Voter registration===
{| class=wikitable
! colspan = 6 | Voter registration and party enrollment as of March 2025<ref name="MDBOE">{{cite web |title=Maryland Board of Elections Voter Registration Activity Report March 2024 |url=https://elections.maryland.gov/pdf/vrar/March_2025_MSR.pdf |website=Maryland Board of Elections |access-date=April 25, 2025}}</ref>
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}}
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| align = center | {{formatnum: 36032}}
| align = center | {{Percentage |36032 |74,103 |2}}
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}}
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| align = center | {{formatnum: 19026}}
| align = center | {{Percentage |19026 |74,103 |2}}
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent Party (United States)}}
| Unaffiliated
| align = center | {{formatnum: 17550}}
| align = center | {{Percentage |17550 |74,103 |2}}
|-
| {{party color cell|Green Party (United States)}}
| [[Green Party (United States)|Green]]
| align = center | {{formatnum: 77}}
| align = center | {{Percentage |77 |74,103 |2}}
|-
| {{party color cell|Working Class Party (United States)}}
| [[Working Class Party (United States)|Working Class]]
| align = center | {{formatnum: 72}}
| align = center | {{Percentage |72 |74,103 |2}}
|-
| {{party color cell|None}}
| [[Third party (U.S. politics)|Other parties]]
| align = center | {{formatnum: 1346}}
| align = center | {{Percentage |1346 |74,103 |2}}
|-
! colspan = 2 | Total
! align = center | {{formatnum: 74,103}}
! align = center | {{Percentage |100}}
|}

{{PresHead|place=Cecil County, Maryland|whig=no|source1=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=June 11, 2018}}</ref>|source2=<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/PresidentList.html|title=Our Campaigns - U.S. President|access-date=January 22, 2021}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP/Whig vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|33,871|17,628|1,332|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|29,439|16,809|1,214|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|28,868|13,650|2,751|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|24,806|16,557|1,117|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|23,855|17,665|974|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|22,556|14,680|438|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|15,494|12,327|1,055|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|10,885|10,144|3,431|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|10,784|10,232|6,303|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|13,224|7,807|124|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|13,111|6,681|93|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|9,673|7,937|1,236|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|7,833|8,950|0|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|10,759|4,113|319|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|6,462|4,517|3,235|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|5,330|7,854|0|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|7,368|6,065|0|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|7,217|4,936|0|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|6,482|5,590|26|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|3,866|4,323|47|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|3,680|4,662|0|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|3,878|5,360|50|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|3,617|4,914|51|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|3,569|4,282|108|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|5,706|2,201|55|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|3,156|2,863|247|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|3,435|3,468|54|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|1,959|2,587|81|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|1,509|2,491|736|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1908|Democratic|2,378|2,847|55|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1904|Democratic|2,425|2,554|58|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|2,959|2,988|119|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|3,128|2,908|194|Maryland}}
{{PresRow|1892|Democratic|2,310|2,898|251|Maryland}}
|}