St. Mary's Votes 2006!

The 26^th Amendment to the Constitution allowed eighteen-year olds the right to vote. However, only about half of the 23.9 Americans under the age of 24 actually bother to register and less than a third of those registered actually vote. The St. Mary's Votes! project is a local initiative to get St. Mary's College of Maryland students and young people across the state to vote in primary and general elections.

Led by four students: Rahul Bhanot ('07 Columbia, MD), Julian Brunner ('07 Takoma Park), Kerry Crawford ('07 Towson, MD), and Eric Hoffman ('08 Baltimore, MD), St. Mary's Votes 2006! registered more than 200 St. Mary's College of Maryland students prior to the 2006 elections. Fall events included political and cultural activities designed to get students to register to vote and then to the polls on the primary and general election days. Read more.

(at right: Kerry Crawford and Drew McWilliams register a new voter on one of their Sunday night "dorm storms.")

The VoterMan/St. Mary's Votes t-shirt is here! Designed by Rahul Bhanot:

To learn more about registering to vote in Maryland, visit the State Board of Elections.

To register to vote you must fill out the Maryland Voter Registration Application. Return it to the Center for the Study of Democracy in Kent 103/105 and we'll mail it for you!

St. Mary's Votes 2004!

In 2004 The St. Mary's Votes! project registered 420 young people (18-24 years old) to vote before the 2004 presidential elections. The project focused its attention on getting the 1900 students at St. Mary's College of Maryland to register and to the polls to cast ballots. A fall 2004 poll of St. Mary's College students found political involvement on the rise.

The newly registered students came from 21 of Maryland's 23 counties and Baltimore City. As Co-Director Yaron Miller (Baltimore, MD ’05) has noted, “Only good things can happen for students when we use our voice and ballot."  Ramtin Arabluoei (‘05, Germantown, MD) who is also a co-director of the voter registration drive added, “St. Mary’s students have an obligation to stand up and be counted.”  (Photo at left: Hannah Faddis ('05), a volunteer for St. Mary's Votes, who was trained by the County Board of Elections, registers students to vote at the Ponded concert in November 2003)

St. Mary's Votes! sponsored cultural events that highlighted the importance of voting and helped get students to the polls on election day.

(Photo at right: St. Mary's College quartet, Ponded, performs for St. Mary's Votes project at a benefit concert in November 2003).

To learn more about registering to vote in Maryland, visit the State Board of Elections.

To register to vote you must fill out the Maryland Voter Registration Application. Return it to the Center for the Study of Democracy in Anne Arundel Hall 122c and we'll mail it for you!