Maryland: Come for the crab cakes, the boardwalk, a child bride – The Washington Post

Steamed crabs and a sail on the Chesapeake Bay have long been part of Maryland’s tourism campaigns.

But if the legislature doesn’t act soon, Maryland’s contemporary attractions will increasingly include weddings — child weddings.

“I can tell you from the statistics, we are becoming a destination,” said Scott Poyer, the Circuit Court clerk for Anne Arundel County who is frustrated that the law requires him to sign off on the marriages of teens whose faces he’ll never see. “I’d say between two-thirds to half of the out-of-state marriages I get are underage.”