Stop Trying to Silence the Youth Vote

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted is prohibiting 17-year-olds from voting in the presidential primary. And yes, it matters.

I would consider my relationship with politics and current affairs to be a longstanding one. I first ran for office in the first grade, winning a coveted seat on the Weston Elementary Student Council. As an adolescent, I often gravitated toward political and issue-advocacy booths while attending summer festivals in my native Wood County, Ohio. My after-dinner routine usually consisted of sneaking off to my room to watch World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, and when Jennings passed away in 2005, it felt like loosing a family friend. And during the summer before my senior year of high school, I jumped at the opportunity to be a delegate at Buckeye Girls State, a week-long mock government program for young women in Ohio.

This is all to say that, from an early age onward, I have taken my responsibility of being an informed and engaged member of my community seriously — whether that “community” be my school, my neighborhood, my state, or my country. And I've done so with a great deal of enthusiasm and pride.

That’s why in 2008, when I was 17 years old, I was beyond thrilled to cast my first ballot in the Ohio Democratic presidential primary (for you, President Obama!). In fact, I was so thrilled that I took the day off from school to work at a nearby polling location.

Yes, I was THAT level of political nerd, even at 17 years old.

But in this year’s Ohio presidential primary, 17-year-olds who will be 18 before the November general election will face a starkly different landscape.

Under a directive from Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, these 17-year-olds will not be permitted to cast their ballot for their preferred presidential candidate Tuesday. Husted’s directive, as State Representative Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent) points out, flies directly in the face of 35 years of precedent allowing this voting bloc the opportunity to have their say in who goes on to receive the major parties’ nomination.

How, exactly, does Secretary Husted justify this change in course? As The Columbus Dispatch explains:

According to the 2015 election manual, released by Husted, the crux of the issue lies in the difference between “electing” and “nominating.” Seventeen-year-old voters are allowed to nominate candidates for office — meaning they can vote in other primary races such as the U.S. Senate race and the Ohio legislative races. But they are not allowed to directly elect an official. In the case of a presidential primary, voters don’t nominate candidates — they elect delegates to do the nominating for them.

In other words, under Husted’s directive, these voters are allowed to vote in the Senate primary, since they would be nominating — not directly electing — a Senator. But the line is drawn at the presidential primary, as these voters would, as Husted argues, be directly electing a delegate, not nominating a presidential candidate.

If this rationale sounds insane, it’s because it is.

As The Plain Dealer editorialized Friday, the language adopted by state lawmakers in 1981 —when Ohio officially began permitting 17-year-olds who would turn 18 in time for the general election the right to vote in the primary — is, in The Plain Dealer’s own words, “unambiguous.” The text reads:

At a primary election every qualified elector who is or will be on the day of the next general election eighteen or more years of age, and who is a member of or is affiliated with the political party whose primary election ballot he desires to vote, shall be entitled to vote such ballot at the primary election.

So there you have it. Looks pretty straightforward to me.

For those who say, “But does it really matter? These voters will have the chance to cast their ballots in the November general election,” it absolutely does matter.

Beyond the obvious “as goes Ohio, so goes the nation” mentality that makes Ohio a prize among states, these voters deserve to have a say in who stands at the main mast of their party. After all, whoever clinches the party nomination — be it Democrat or Republican — will have a shot at being our nation’s president and Commander-in-Chief for the next four (and possibly eight) years.

For today’s 17-year-olds, the next four years will bring monumental life changes. Some will attend college, others will join the workforce. Some may get married and start a family. Others will buy their first home, join the military, or start their own companies.

Regardless of who becomes America’s next chief executive, he or she will undoubtedly determine the course of our nation for years to come, including our priorities at home and abroad. With so much at stake, those who are otherwise eligible to vote in the general election should be — and must be — given a say in who may one day lead their country.

On Thursday, an Ohio judge heard arguments over Husted’s new directive. As 17-year-old voters wait for a decision as to whether they will be permitted to vote for a presidential candidate in Tuesday’s primary, I am hopeful that today’s young voters in Ohio will be afforded the same opportunity to engage in the process as I was.

In the meantime, I have one message for Secretary Husted: Stop silencing the youth vote. The future of the country depends on their voices and, whether you like it or not, these voters will one day lead our nation.