Bernie Sanders knows how important the millennial vote is for his campaign. He has routinely walloped Hillary Clinton with voters under age 50. Perhaps hoping to maintain that momentum, his campaign is now waging an effort to allow 17-year-olds to vote in the March 15 Democratic primary in the important swing state of Ohio.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted changed voting rules that forbid 17-year-olds to vote in the state primary, even if they are turning 18 by the November general election. The Sanders campaign said that is a clear effort to silence the young vote.
"The secretary of state has decided to disenfranchise people who are 17 but will be 18 by the day of the general election,” Weaver said, according to CNN. “Those people have been allowed to vote under the law of Ohio, but the secretary of state of the state of Ohio has decided to disenfranchise those people to forbid them from voting in the primary that is coming up on March 15.”
Husted refuted those claims, noting that Ohioans have never been allowed to elect candidates if they are not of age.
Megyn Kelly shared her opinion Tuesday night during the election coverage, noting that the same thing happened to her during an election when she was about to turn 18, but didn’t quite make the deadline.
“I had to wait four years,” she said. “That’s how it is. Sorry.”
Yet, Sanders’ showing that he is fighting for millennials’ right to vote could resonate well with young people.