Another Attempt to Disenfranchise Young Voters

I'm starting to see a disturbing trend.

Maryland, on the heels of Iowa and Georgia, is in the middle of a battle over youth voting rights.

Here's the story: In Maryland, 17-year-olds can vote in primary elections if they will be 18 by the time of the general election. That's been the policy since the 1970s.

Makes sense, right? You vote in the general election, you want to have a say in who gets to be on the ballot that day. Plus, we know that voting is a habit that, if begun early, leads to a lifetime of political engagement. Seems like something we'd want to encourage.

Unfortunately, the Maryland State Board of Elections (SBE) recently decided to upend that long-standing policy and bar 17-year-olds from voting in primaries. With no public input from Maryland residents or the political parties, the SBE decided to disenfranchise 17-year-olds, and even began sending them letters informing them they would not be allowed to vote in the state's upcoming presidential primary on February 12th. Outrageous.

Here's the good news. Both the Maryland Democratic and Republican parties, voting rights advocates, youth organizations, and voting rights leader State Senator Jamie Raskin spoke out forcefully against this policy change, and demanded a ruling from the state Attorney General on the issue.

Earlier today, the Maryland Attorney General issued a statement in which he recommended that Maryland's 17-year-olds be allowed to vote in the Feb. 12 presidential primary. The final decision goes back to the Board of Elections tomorrow, and they are expected to reinstate the rights of 17-year-olds to vote on February 12th.

We'll keep you updated on the SBE's Thursday ruling, and also on follow-up voter education actions. Already, the Maryland-based group FairVote announced a public education campaign with the Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals to make sure all eligible students are aware of the upcoming January 22nd voter registration deadline.

So check back here for updates, and if you live in Maryland, make sure you're registered to vote! You can register right here.

To go back to the beginning, though - this is a disturbing trend, and we need to put a stop to it. As the New York Times said in a recent editorial entitled "Keeping Students Away from the Polls," "The campaigns of fear and intimidation that once kept black voters from casting ballots didn’t end when Congress passed the Voting Rights Act."

Have you seen voter intimidation in your community or on your campus? What do you think we should all be doing to stop it? Let us know in the comments, and check back here for updates on our work.

And as always, make your voice heard by Rocking the Vote every day. Register to vote here, get your friends to register, join our Facebook group, sign up to be a street team leader, volunteer - there are dozens of things each of us can do to Rock the Vote in 2008.