1,000 Prairie View students march to courthouse for right to vote

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: Associated Press

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas — About 1,000 students from Prairie View A&M University marched seven miles from campus to the county courthouse on the first day of early voting Tuesday to bring attention to voting problems in Waller County.

Students, joined by civil rights attorneys and local leaders, carried "Register to Vote" signs and wore shirts that said "It is 2008 and we will vote." The total crowd was estimated at about 2,000 people, police said.

Prairie View Mayor Frank Johnson praised the student protesters as "wonderful kids."

<snip>

The county has a history of voting problems. After the 2006 elections, the state attorney general's office seized county election records after complaints that black voters' rights were violated. About 300 students at Prairie View, a historically black school, said they had to wait three to four hours to vote and ended up casting provisional ballots because their names were missing from election rosters.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5554045.html

---

More on this here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4675112&mesg_id=4675112

[democrank]

1. Bless every single one of them.

I`m so proud.

[caseycoon]

2. Good for them!

This pic made me tear up. ~sniff~
GO KIDS!
:woohoo:

[catgirl]

3. This is powerful

I hope this gets a lot of media coverage today. K & R

[myrna minx]

23. This actually gave me goose bumps and tear up as well. n/t

[Thothmes]

4. Just out of idle curiosity

Whey didnt these students register to vote in their home of record, they could easily vote by absentee ballot. How many of these students have their University address as their legal home of residence. Those are the ones that have a beef if the locals will not register them.

[EFerrari]

6. Students typically vote in their school town because that's where

they are in November. According to the article, 300 of them had been dropped from the rolls. They did register and they were dropped.

[Thothmes]

9. This may be true

but if they are not legal resident in the jurisdiction, they are not entitled to vote there.

[EFerrari]

10. That doesn't seem to be the issue.

Black students struggle for voting rights

By Gloria Rubac
Houston

On Feb. 5, four 18-year-old students, attending the historically Black Prairie View A & M University 40 miles northwest of Houston in Waller County, filed a suit against the county's district attorney in federal court because they fear being prosecuted for simply registering to vote.

The four students who filed the suit were Neothies Lindley Jr., K. Thanes Quee nan, Vivian Spikes and Brian Row land. The Prairie View Student Gov ernment backs the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed a day after Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued an opinion that Prairie View students must be allowed to register in Waller County using their campus address.

http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/voting0219.php

[EFerrari]

11. More on the suppression of these votes:

Prairie View Students Experiencing Voting Problems Waller County Texas



NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Morrow, GA, United States, 02/13/2008 - Prairie View student government association and Black Youth vote!.



As the historic turnout among young voters continues to have a major impact on an election that marks a turning point in America, students at Prairie View A&M University faced with the age-old problem of fighting for their right to vote, are planning a march and rally February 19, 2008 to protest ongoing student voting disfranchisement in Waller County Texas.

During a press conference held Tuesday in Houston, PVAMU Student Government Association, Black Youth Vote! (BYV!) Texas, and a host of local community leaders appealed to students across the country to assist in their plight by joining them for a the March for Voting Justice, or by sending a letter to the Department of Justice to support their efforts. Officials at the Historically Black University have already agreed to excuse the 8000-plus student body to participate in the march, which will be held on the first day of early voting. The march will start at 9 AM at the PVAMU Memorial Student Center. Students will march to the courthouse in Hempstead.

According to Waller County Judge DeWayne Charleston, recently the Waller County Commission decided to eliminate six early voting locations in the county including the one adjacent to campus requiring PVAMU students to drive or walk 7.3 miles to vote in Hempstead, a nearby town. Waller County covers 525 square miles and has but a single polling site for early voting this year.

“Without a doubt, the change makes voting more difficult for the PVAMU students”, Judge Charleston said.

http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/29866/

This is just classic Republican thuggery.

[CreekDog]

16. You are incorrect, you can be a student and vote where you go to school

You just can't be registered and vote in two places.

[Thothmes]

17. That is correct

provided they list their legal residence as their school address.

[fasttense]

7. As a former military member, I know for a fact it is never

easy to vote by absentee ballot. Half the time, during my 20 years, I never received my ballot, despite doing the paperwork required. When I could get an overseas line to call and find out why, I never received a logical explanation. Somehow my name always fell off the rolls. Every year I would re-register and be unable to vote that year. I would vote one year and then my name would disappear.

I don't blame the kids for voting where they live instead of where they use to live. It ain't easy.

[Thothmes]

8. I spent 24 years in the Navy

I voted absentee ballot in every election for 18 straight years and never had a problem receiving a ballot from Washington State.

[EFerrari]

12. For some reason, in 2004 student absentee ballots went missing

at a higher rate than others. Their precincts were moved or crowded and they got robocalls threatening their financial aid if they voted "in the wrong place".

Screwing with the youth vote is someone's full time job at the RNC although this particular case may just be a local hobby.

[CRK7376]

20. I've got over 30 years

in the Army, National GUard and Army Reserve and never had a problem gettng my absentee ballots. Guess I was lucky, and I haven't missed a vote since I first became eligible in 1976.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

5. Wow, these kids gave me goose bumps!!

[hamsterjill]

13. Good for them!

They make me proud to be a Texan!!!! Seeing something like this just makes me feel good! May their efforts inspire many more to stand up and be counted.

[EFerrari]

14. Welcome to DU, hampsterjill!

:)

[hamsterjill]

15. Why, thank you!

Thanks for the welcome.

[Ilsa]

18. This is so cool! And it looks like the local sheriff or police gave them

an escort to help keep them safe. I hope the voting problems are minimal this year.

[nycmuse]

19. Vote!

Hi All

[EFerrari]

21. Welcome to DU, nycmuse.

:)

[73montecarlo]

22. Political theater at its best

The march was on February 20. A week earlier, on February 13, the county had already agreed to add three early polling places for a total of four...in a county with a population of <24,000, including the 4,000 students.

They could have simply called for absentee ballots, got in a car and driven seven miles, or waited until the actual primary on March 4, at which time there would be 18 polling places open, including two in their town and one on their campus.

Or they could have contacted the county, and offered to volunteer to staff an early polling station on their campus.

But none of that would have made good video, even though it would have been much more effective.

Texas is a big place. My home county has only one early polling place per 30,000 residents, and it is up to 30 miles from some sections of the county to the courthouse. But folks who are more interested in getting things done than in grandstanding simply figure out a way to get their voting done, even without TV cameras.

[EFerrari]

24. You sound resentful. I hope that works out for you. n/t

[73montecarlo]

25. Sound on the Internet?

Resentful? I thought I was applauding their skillful manipulation of the media.