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THE CHAIRMAN: The Committee Chair-
man will be permitted to make a very brief
presentation concerning the whole article,
simply so that we will know what it covers
in general, and then proceed to a discussion
of section 1, after which there will be a
Committee presentation with respect to
each section.
DELEGATE KOSS: We have devoted
considerable time here to debating which
branches of our government should be
elected and the manner in which such an
election should be held. We now have before
us consideration of the constitutional pro-
visions that would establish who, indeed,
should be entitled to vote in those elections.
Insofar as the elective process is held
in a free and open manner, this is the whole
core of the democratic process. The im-
portance of the provisions of the Recom-
mendation before you cannot be minimized.
Generally, the Committee felt that the
right to vote is so fundamental to the
democratic process that it should be limited
only under circumstances when such limi-
tation can be justified by the presence of
some handicap that might invalidate the
integrity of the electoral process.
The present constitutional provisions for
eligibility in the Maryland Constitution are
tied to three factors: United States citizen-
ship, age, and residence.
The Constitution of 1776 established
those who were eligible to vote as a free
men above twenty-one having a freehold
hold of 50 acres, or having property above
the value of thirty pounds. Prior to the
adoption of our first Constitution, Maryland
and New Jersey were the only two colonies
that had no language in their election laws
specifying the age of twenty-one.
The Committee recommends that the
voting age be established at nineteen. To
reiterate the language of our memorandum,
the Committee decided that persons who
nad reached this age were possessed of such
information and responsibility that they
might intelligently cast a vote. The Com-
mittee could not in good conscience im-
lose any more stringent standards on the
independence of this age-group in partici-
pating in election processes than is im-
posed on any other group.
The evidence presented to the Committee
,vas most persuasive in its demonstration
:hat our educational system has made a
•ivic education an integral part of our
state public school program. A greater
percentage of our citizens now than ever
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before continue their education through
high school, and this certainly is a marked
contrast to the generations that have pre-
ceded them.
Lastly, you cannot overlook the fact
that a great number of our young people
are expressing their real concern with
the issues that are of concern to us all.
Now, you mig-ht be interested in know-
ing that the question of lowering the voting
age in Maryland has not been confined
to the time since 1940 or even to the 20th
century. There was an attempt made in the
1851 Constitutional Convention to extend
the franchise to married men of eighteen.
In the United States, Georgia was the
first state to break the traditional twenty-
one-year age limit. In 1043 Georgia lowered
the age to eighteen, followed by Kentucky
in 1955. Of the two newest states, Alaska
set it at nineteen and .Hawaii at twenty.
In Maryland \ve know that one munici-
pality has already lowered the voting age
to eighteen, and another one is consider-
ing that move.
Census publication on voter participation
indicates that the lowest participation of
any age group is that group from 21-24. It
is difficult to analyze why this should be,
but it has been suggested that the period of
young adulthood is spent in a rather
mobile manner, where the beginning of
the career and family responsibility per-
haps take the fore. It was the Committee's
opinion if the voting habit could be estab-
lished sooner after the previously mentioned
civic education was received, this process
would continue.
Most nineteen year olds are out of the
household, either having joined the labor
force or in college. In both of these roles
they are assuming the responsibilities that
we are wont to associate with adulthood.
In determining the question of voting
ag-e, it was not possible, nor did the Com-
mittee find it persuasive, to tie the age
of voting to the age at which young people
achieved legal status. There is no one con-
sistent legal adult age; it varies for vari-
ous purposes, and indeed, in Maryland, it
varies from one jurisdiction to another.
In addition, even adults who are given
the vote now are protected by various laws
from their own actions that are entered
into freely and without limitation. The
Committee decided that the issue of vot-
ing age should be decided on its own
merit on an analysis of the role young
people would play in the electoral process.
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