Registration Deadlines

By Marc Korman.

Maryland is one of twenty-six states with closed primaries, meaning primaries are only open to those who register with the party. Some state parties in closed primary states choose to open their primaries, but it is not required by law. As a closed primary state, voters in Maryland must be registered with a political party to vote in its primary. Meaning if you wanted to weigh in on Clinton versus Obama back in February, you had to be a registered Democrat. To weigh in on McCain versus Huckabee, you had to be a registered Republican. In Maryland, voters can either register with a political party or be unaffiliated. If a voter changes their mind in the future and decides to change or select parties, they may find an unexpected roadblock in their path.

Maryland’s 2008 presidential primary was February 12, 2008. The registration deadline was three weeks prior to the election. But, if you are already registered and simply want to change or select a party, your deadline was on November 19, 2007, about twelve weeks before the election. That means if a voter did not plan well ahead of time to register with a party, they are out of luck. Unfortunately, most voters were not thinking about the Democratic primary back in November of 2007. As I was registering voters before the state’s Democratic primary, I met many unaffiliated voters who were getting excited about the primaries due to the increasing news coverage, but were unable to participate in the primary as a result of the early deadline. The problem is especially prevalent among young people, who I find are less inclined to affiliate with a political party.

State law sets the early deadline for party affiliation change. Voters may change other information on their registrations, such as their address, up to the registration deadline. Maryland is not alone in the strange timing provision. I did not survey every state, but Delaware had a party affiliation change deadline of October 31, 2007, a registration deadline of January 12, 2008, and its election on February 5, 2008. Virginia does not require voters to select parties. California has no alternate deadline for party affiliation changes.

Last week, I heard from Stan Statland, the President of the Montgomery County Board of Elections, at a Bethesda-Chevy Chase Democratic Club breakfast. I asked Mr. Statland about the differing deadlines. He explained that the different deadlines were to help the State Board of Elections manage the amount of data entry and changes required leading up to the election.

Mr. Statland’s explanation is legitimate and I do not doubt that the State Board of Elections could use more resources. However, the amount of party affiliation changes is probably fairly small and the state should make that deadline match the overall registration deadline.

States such as Minnesota and Wisconsin have figured out how to have same day voter registration, a phenomenon that makes voting more accessible but also gave us Governor Jesse Ventura. Surely, Maryland’s Board of Elections can handle the much smaller administrative burden of allowing voters to change their affiliation during the same period of time they can change their address or a new voter can register.

Some may argue that allowing a later party affiliation could bring “Operation Chaos,” Rush Limbaugh’s effort to subvert the Democratic primaries by having Republicans vote in them, to Maryland. Even if Mr. Limbaugh’s recent efforts were successful, the current voter registration deadline of three weeks before the election would put a limit on partisan manipulation. More importantly, it would open the primaries to more voters who want to participate in a constructive, not chaotic, way. If “Operation Chaos” concern is really that high, then the deadline change could only apply to unaffiliated voters who select a party and not members of other parties.

I hope our legislators will take a look at the deadline discrepancy next session, prior to the 2010 election cycle. Others may want to go farther than I am suggesting and make Maryland’s primaries open or allow same day registration. I would be happy to see a debate on these issues, but the narrow issue presented here can be dealt with easily and should be done, regardless of the broader changes that may also be considered.