After months of court fights and confusion over the ballot language, county voters overwhelmingly approved Question 3 on Tuesday.

About 73% of county voters backed the constitutional amendment, which removes Maryland’s redistricting rules from congressional maps.

The measure took a rocky path to the ballot. State lawmakers approved it during a special session in August. Circuit judges in Anne Arundel and Dorchester counties then blocked it, finding the wording vague. The Supreme Court of Maryland put the question back on the ballot in September. The justices rewrote the 69-word question themselves.

Lawmakers on both sides and one justice said the new wording still fell short. State Sen. Cheryl Kagan, D-Montgomery, supports Question 3. Kagan told MCM the court’s rewrite made the question even harder to follow.

Question 3 keeps the state’s line-drawing rules for Maryland Senate and House of Delegates districts. Those rules require districts to be connected, compact and respectful of natural and local boundaries. They will no longer apply to the state’s eight congressional districts. The amendment also lets lawmakers send lawsuits over congressional maps straight to the Supreme Court of Maryland.

Gov. Wes Moore made the measure a priority. He raised more than $2.4 million to support Question 3, according to his office. Gov. Moore said Maryland voters “used their power to push back.”

Supporters framed the vote as a response to Republican-led redistricting in other states. Texas and Missouri both redrew their congressional maps in the middle of the decade to favor Republicans.

Republican leaders and the Maryland Freedom Caucus opposed Question 3. They argued removing the rules would make it easier to draw maps favoring one party.

The amendment does not redraw any districts. State lawmakers would need to approve a new congressional map in a separate vote. The earliest a new map could take effect is the 2028 election.

Voters also approved Questions 1 and 2 by wide margins in unofficial results.