Since 1981, Ohio law has said that 17-year-olds may vote in primaries if they will be 18 by the time of the general election. The law says, “3503.011. At a primary election every qualified elector who is or will be on the day of the next general election 18 or more years of age, and who is a member of or is affiliated with the political party whose primary election he desires to vote, shall be entitled to vote such ballot at the primary election.”
Secretary of State Jon Husted is interpreting this law not to apply to presidential primaries. On March 8, the Bernie Sanders campaign and six 17-year-olds who will be 18 by November and who want to vote for Sanders filed a federal lawsuit. Smith v Husted, s.d., 2:16cv-212. They charge that in the past, 17-year old voters were permitted to vote in Ohio presidential primaries. The Secretary of State believes that the law does not apply to presidential primaries, because presidential primaries are really elections for Delegate to national conventions. However, the Secretary’s stance on this contradicts what he has told the press about whether the Ohio sore loser law and the Ohio law on affiliation of independent candidates apply to presidential primaries.
Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link to the Complaint.
The amusing part is that the six children are incompetent to sue, but have to have their parents sue on their behalf.
It sounds like Ohio has implemented the law on an ad hoc basis. For example, having poll workers instruct 17-YO voters which races they may vote in, and then setting the ballot aside for later checking.
When Brunner was SOS, she promulgated a regulation that said that 17 YO could not vote on things like bond issues or ballot propositions, not county or state party officials. They then produced publicity posters that only mentioned the issues. But a publicity poster is not a statute or a regulation.
I don’t see a difference between a delegate to a national party convention, and county or state party officials. The ballots even say that the office is delegate to the national convention. It certainly is not hidden from the voter what office they are voting for, as the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit claims that Ohio is violating the VRA because 17 YO are less likely to be white than the older population, and that it is violating the 26th Amendment because Ohio has “defined” 18 to include 17 YO.
I voted in a primary, served on a party executive committee, and was elected as a delegate to my district and state conventions when I was 17 in North Carolina.
I think that anyone who is 17 and turns 18 before election day deserves input into the nomination process. The assertion that the presidential primary is actually an election of delegates to a convention is somewhat ridiculous, and it borders on splitting hairs.
Is there a link to the complaint?
Don, I just added a link to the Complaint.
Thanks Richard!
@Don
The ballot in Ohio says that it is for purposes of electing delegates to the national convention.
If Ohio were to switch to direct nomination of presidential candidates, then it would be consistent to permit under-age voters to vote in those primaries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ8yqrN-Fns