Donald F. Norris, professor and chairman of UMBC’s Department of Public Policy, has offered insight on topics from Maryland ballot measures to the advertising wars throughout the election season. He recently commented in a Patch article on early voting, stating: “There is little or no evidence that early voting matters in overall turnout or in overall turnout among sub groups of voters—elderly, young, minorities, etc. So I am not inclined to say anything about this except that turnout is up.” Why the increase in turnout of early voters? Norris told WBAL, “We’ve got at least three ballot questions that are …