Yesterday, Governor Martin O’Malley signed HB 217, a bill to permit 16 and 17-year-old citizens to preregister to vote, into law. Other states with similar laws include Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, and most recently, Rhode Island.
“This is a big victory for democracy,” said Senate bill sponsor, Sen. Jamie Raskin last month when the legislature adopted the bill. “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.
Read more on this bill and the efforts to pass it by Common Cause Maryland, the Maryland League of Women Voters, Maryland PIRG, and our colleagues who advocated for its passage, including FairVote.