Center for the Study of Democracy

St. Mary's Votes!

Registration Count

New Voter Applications	Absentee Ballot Request
59	226

Count Updated October 28, 2008

Fall 2008

As the 2008 Presidential Elections quickly approaches, St. Mary's Votes! is working hard to register as many new voters as possible. The team plans to set up booths during lunch and dinners at the Campus Center, tables at Giant Food in California, Maryland, perform dorm storms, and participate in numerous events across campus in order to make thier mission known.

This year the team has also taken their roll in civic engagement to a new level. Members of the team will soon begin training to work as election judges and poll workers during the elections. If you would like to volunteer your time to work at the polls, please contact Sam Birnbaum for more information.

If you have a completed copy of the voter registration or absentee ballot request you can drop it off to Kent Hall 103 and we will mail them for you.

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

Spring 2008

In the spring of 2008, the St. Mary's Votes team worked to register approximately 200 students for the Presidential Primary Election in February. The club set up booths in the Campus Center during lunch and dinners, performed dorm storms, and held separate events and meetings to encourage students to register to vote.

On top of registering students for vote, the students involved in the club also worked at the polls during the primary elections. Ten students from the St. Mary's Votes! team were trained by the St. Mary's County Board of Elections to work during the primary election.

2006

The 26th 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.

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."

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