Hearing on Recommendations of the Right to Vote Task Force

The MoCo Council creating a Right to Vote Task Force which presented 59 recommendations in its written report this summer. Tonight (September 23) the Council held a public hearing on those recommendations.

There was a great deal of interest and many presenting testimony (full disclosure: the author of this blog was among them). The most controversial subjects appeared to be:

The Task Force recommends that the County Council encourage the Maryland General Assembly to pass a state constitutional amendment to establish Election Day registration.

The Task Force recommends that Montgomery County request the State of Maryland to allow each county to determine its own public policy with respect to the voting rights of noncitizens with permanent resident visas in county elections.

The Task Force recommends that Montgomery County allow noncitizens with permanent resident visas to vote in county elections if state law is changed to allow noncitizens to vote.

The Task Force recommends that the County Council encourage the Maryland General Assembly to change state law to allow incarcerated felons who are Maryland residents the option to register to vote during the pre-release phase before any parole and probation. That 'pending' registration should become active automatically on the date the person becomes eligible.

The Task Force recommends that the county encourage the Maryland General Assembly to change state law to restore voting rights to residents with felony convictions who have served their time in prison and pre-release programs but who are still serving a term of probation or parole.

The Task Force recommends that the County Council and Executive propose to the Maryland General Assembly reducing the voting age from 18 to 16 years old for county elections.