This weekend, Gov. Martin O’Malley’s voice could be heard sounding from one end of McKeldin Mall.
“Feel like you still have a choice/ If we all light up, we can scare away the dark.”
Those were the lyrics of the Passenger song he sang with university student band Tomato Dodgers to encourage students to get out to vote and support Democratic gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown.
“The turnout is so important and it’s so important for young people to vote,” O’Malley said. “Alienation is a choice. If we want, we can be angry and alienated from the choices we make together and the impact it has on us individually, but it’s not really in our best interest. Our better future is going to be found from greater connections with others. One of the key ways we exercise that level of high expression is the vote we cast and the people we choose to lead.”
Also in attendance was Yvette Lewis, chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party, who echoed O’Malley’s points about the importance of being politically engaged.
“I want to make sure that you guys understand that you cannot just be passive observers to your future; you’ve got to be stakeholders,” Lewis said. “We’re just holding the place for you right now, but when we step aside, you want to have an interest in what’s going on. You don’t want us to just hand you something that you know absolutely nothing about.”
The election takes place Nov. 4, but students can cast their votes early by going to the College Park Community Center on Pierce Avenue until Thursday. Students can also request and download an absentee ballot by Friday and mail it in. O’Malley said this state is lucky to have practices like early voting that make it easier for people to vote, while other states have passed laws making voting more difficult.
Ben Kramer, president of this university’s College Democrats chapter, said he is confident students will turn out to vote in high numbers.
“We’ve got a close race in Maryland; a lot of issues that are important are going on right now,” Kramer said. “Having the governor here is a little extra excitement boost for students to hopefully get them out to the polls.”
The governor, who took up a guitar while playing with the Tomato Dodgers, said he has been playing since he was 17 years old. He is in a band called O’Malley’s March, which schedules a few shows each year despite the time constraints of his position as governor.
Tomato Dodgers are led by junior philosophy major Asher Meerovich and have been together in their current form for eight months. Meerovich describes their style as “strange folk music that is half folk and half rock.”
Meerovich said they found out three days before that they would be playing with O’Malley, and one of O’Malley’s staffers sent them a list of songs to learn the night before the event, which they spent hours practicing. O’Malley played guitar and sang “Scare Away the Dark” by Passenger. He spent the rest of his hour on the campus speaking with students.
“He’s a very down-to-earth guy, very polite, very friendly,” Meerovich said of O’Malley. “It felt sort of like playing with an old friend.”
Brown’s campaign will look to garner more student support when Hillary Clinton visits the university Thursday afternoon, the campaign announced yesterday. Students can RSVP online for the free event, which will be held at Ritchie Coliseum. Doors open at 2:45 p.m.
