Bethesda

By

Maryland Teen Voice Heard

If you are considering purchasing Bethesda Maryland real estate, than www.themarylandrealestateexpert.com at Weightman Realty can help you in all your needs.  A 17 year old resident from Bethesda Maryland had her voice heard on the issue of teen voting.  Sarah a senior at Walt Whitman High in Bethesda Maryland, tried to register to vote this year in Maryland.  She was rejected in the primaries which were being held in February of this year.  Due to the fact that she will not be 18 yet but will be turning 18 before the general election occurs.  This did not stop Sarah in her fight, she fought this ruling all the way up to the state election board and the attorney general's office and eventually won.  This will roughly allow 50,000 teens in Maryland who will be turning 18 between February 12th and November 4th to have a say in this year's Presidential election.  In the past, Maryland used to be one of the only nine states including Virginia that allowed 17 year old adolescents to vote in the primary, if they would be 18 by the time of the general election.  In December of 2006 there was a state ruling in Maryland that ended this practice which gave soon to be adults the right to have a say in there government.

Do to Sarah's persistence, and dedication, seventeen-year-olds that will be turning 18 before the election have the right to vote in the primaries, except on nonpartisan matters.  There are roughly 8,000 residents that will turn 18 by election day in this state that have registered to vote.  It is predicted that there will be roughly 50,000 residents who will be able to vote now due to Sarah and her fathers hard work.

The steps that the Boltuck family took to accomplish this great task were:

• Richard Botuck got in touch with FairVote, a voting rights advocacy group.  They put him in contact with Jamie Raskin, who is a constitutional law scholar
• From there, Raskin talked with the MD political party officials.  He argues that the 2006 state court ruling was overruled by these teenagers' first amendment rights.
• On December 17th Raskin rote a letter to Douglas Gansler the Attorney General stating his argument
• Attorney General Gansler agreed with Raskin's argument and by December 20th the state's election board had begun to restore voting rights to these 17 year old adolescents.
• Now that the first part of the battle is over, Raskin has also submitted a bill to the MD Senate.  This ill proposes to have the state Constitution amended to restore full voting rights to 17 year olds.