A lawyer representing five unaffiliated voters is asking an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge to deny a motion to dismiss their suit challenging a state law that limits the participation of unaffiliated voters in Maryland primary elections.

The plaintiffs, represented by former Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, are asking a judge to rule that state funding for partisan primaries violates their rights under the Maryland Constitution. An attorney representing the state is asking the judge to dismiss the lawsuit. The case is scheduled for an Oct. 20 motions hearing.

“This case, at its core, is a voting rights case,” Rutherford wrote on behalf of his clients. “It is not, as defendants suggest, a case brought to assert some violation of the Maryland Election law and to challenge a particular

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