College students are discouraged from voting by local election boards

[narcjen]

I can't believe this shit.

Article from Rolling Stone
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Mock the Vote

College students are discouraged from voting by local election boards

By Damien Cave
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Like any good American citizen, young Han wanted to cast his ballot in the presidential primaries. So in October, the sophomore at Hamilton College walked into the office of the county election board in Utica, New York, to register to vote. Han couldn't make it back to his home state of Washington to participate in its caucuses -- they were being held in February, the same week Hamilton requires sophomores to declare a major -- so he decided to vote in the state where he actually lives.

But at the election office, a county official told Han that only "permanent residents" may register to vote. College students, she informed the clean-cut twenty-year-old, must vote where their parents live. "This is just how we've always done it," county election commissioner Patricia DiSpirito told Rolling Stone. "A dorm is not a permanent residence -- it just isn't."

In fact, DiSpirito is flat-out wrong. Federal and state courts have clearly established that students have the right to vote where they go to school, even if they live in a dorm. But interviews with college students, civil-rights attorneys, political strategists and legal experts reveal that election officials all over the country are erecting illegal barriers to keep young voters from casting ballots. From New Hampshire to California, officials have designed complex questionnaires that prevent college students from registering, hired high-powered attorneys to keep them off the rolls, shut down polling places on campuses and even threatened to arrest and imprison young voters. Much as local registrars in the South once used poll taxes and literacy tests to deny the vote to black citizens, some county election officials now employ an intimidating mix of legal bullying and added paperwork to prevent civic-minded young people from casting ballots.

"Students have been singled out for outright discrimination," says Neal Rosenstein, government-reform coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research Group. "If someone was challenging the voting rights of a military person who is stationed somewhere temporarily, we'd be screaming that it's not patriotic. There shouldn't be any less of a standard for students, who work and pay sales taxes in those communities."

continued

[Mountainman]

1. Every election season in Santa Barbara county you hear some repubs

complain because the county registrar of voters goes to U C Santa Barbara to have a voters registration drive. The repubs say that the students all votes for Democrats and that isn't fair because they don't live there. Well they do live there for four years. The time they go back to their parents home is less than the time they spend at school.

[LiberalFighter]

6. College Democrats should be contacted

and they should put together a plan to fight this.

[Captain_Chaos]

2. If it is the case that

"Federal and state courts have clearly established that students have the right to vote where they go to school, even if they live in a dorm.." and many college campuses give students access to an attourney (typically included in college fees), then I say sue the bastards. YOUR right to vote should NOT be taken away by ANYONE.

If your a college student who is getting the run around on this issue, DON'T STAND FOR IT!

Take them down!

[Art_from_Ark]

3. When I first registered to vote, I was living in a dorm

There was even a voter recruitment drive right there on campus. It was actually considered important to be an active member of the American democracy.

Imagine that!

[WMliberal]

4. happened here at william and mary too

kids were able to register and vote here in williamsburg until this spring. we had 3 students try to run for city council, so the registrar changed the rules so that the only way to run was to drop out of school. plus, he denied every student that tried to register here in williamsburg.

[LiberalFighter]

5. Since when does the registrar make the rules?

I remember students running for city council in Madison WI and also Whitewater WI back in the early 70's.

They are affected by the laws of that state/county/city while attending the school. The local politicians can and will pass legislation/ordinances that may cause hardship on the students attending. In affect, taxation without representation.

[WMliberal]

7. he started to enforce the most obscure laws he could find.

The city council lit a fire under his butt to protect the geriatrics running for open seats.

[WMliberal]

8. the laws he used were already on the books

but like i said, he'd always let students register in williamsburg until this year. We started trying to become active in city politics after they put in a new residential law saying no more than 3 unrelated persons couldn't live together (except on state owned property).