On Monday, the Maryland General Assembly concluded its business for the 2010 legislative session. Though several promising pieces of legislation were left on the table—including three bills that would have established a same-day-registration system—the state made important step towards improving the participation of to advance the voting rights, particularly that of future voters.
With the passage of HB 217/SB 292, the General Assembly granted the right to register to vote to all Marylanders over the age of 16. The bill received unanimous support out of committee in the Senate and ultimately passed the House 97-43. As noted in Project Vote’s March 24 letter to the Senate Health, Education and Environmental Affairs Committee, this will help to close the striking registration gap between youth voters and the rest of the population. Furthermore, it will help to foster civic engagement among Maryland’s youth.
The bill will now go to the governor.
“This is a big victory for democracy,” said Senate bill sponsor, Sen. Jamie Raskin in a recent Common Cause Maryland press release. “I’ve been fighting for a standard voter registration age since I was elected so that 16 or 17 year olds all over the state will know that they should register to vote before they leave school. With this legislation, we can now register young people before they graduate and are off into the work force or to college or the military.
“Democracy works best when everybody participates,” he said.
The legislation has also received broad support from voting rights advocates.
“We have a long way to go in modernizing the voter registration process, and this is a great step towards that goal,” said Ryan O’Donnell, Executive Director of Common Cause Maryland. “When we get young people registered and they start voting early, we establish a habit of civic participation that lasts the rest of their lives.”
“If signed into law, this bill means our high schools will have a wonderful opportunity to introduce all young Marylanders to their upcoming role as voters,” said Rob Richie, executive director of FairVote, a group that has long championed preregistration in the states. Maryland will join Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina and Rhode Island on the cutting edge of ensuring no eligible voter is left behind.”
This growing trend is a good sign not just for overall participation rates, but particularly for empowering young people of color and other historically underrepresented demographic groups. As discussed in Project Vote’s recent legislative brief, Expanding the Youth Electorate through Preregistration, preregistration policies not only help to increase civic participation among young people, but may also “help reduce historical disparities in electorate for future generations with just a simple, inexpensive adjustment in the administration of elections.”
Read Project Vote’s legislative brief, fact sheet, and model bill on preregistration or click here.