ANNAPOLIS -- People don't vote because they are afraid that if they register they will be called to jury duty.
Or, they feel they are too old or frail to get to the polls.
Or, their names are no longer on voter-registration records because they have not voted for five years or more.
Or, they have just moved to the state, or do not know where to go to register.
Or, they simply do not care.
These and other reasons were given to a House of Delegates' committee that spent yesterday afternoon trying to determine why Marylanders do not vote in greater numbers and what can be done about it.
Although most of the testimony dealt with declines in voter turnout in national and statewide elections, the discussion came as Baltimore voters were being urged to vote tomorrow for a mayor, president of the City Council, city comptroller and members of the City Council in a primary contest for which a low turnout has been predicted.
Nathan Landow, chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party, offered the Constitutional and Administrative Law Committee a laundry list of ideas to make voter registration easier in Maryland, suggesting that once citizens are registered, they are more likely to vote. But he, along with other witnesses yesterday, concluded that barriers to voter registration are not the main reason citizens do not vote.
"The hard truth is that citizens all over the country have lost faith in government and politicians," he said, adding that many believe political institutions are remote and controlled by special interest groups. "Many people just don't give a damn anymore. That's what has to change."
He and others complained that the news media in general and television in particular have trivialized political campaigns, turning them into horse races or personality contests that ignore more substantive issues.
Robert Duckworth, federal policy spokesman for the Maryland Republican Party, said public officials should concentrate their efforts on young people in an effort to eliminate cynicism about politics.
"At this time, I'd say many of our young people don't understand the stake they have in democracy," he said.
Allan Lichtman, a professor of history at the American University in Washington, said Maryland could increase its voter turn out by an estimated 5 percent through two actions:
* Permitting voter registration on the same day as the election, a practice already in place in a few other states.
