Dave Lindorff: Who Says College Students Shouldn't Vote Where They Live?

[marmar]

Who Says College Students Shouldn't Vote Where They Live?
Thu, 12/06/2007 - 22:24 — dlindorff



Excuse me, but I have to vent here.

Having grown up in a college town (Storrs, CT, home of UConn), and then having attended college in two cities that were not my hometown, in both of which places I voted in local elections (Middletown, CT and New York City), I want to take issue with the candidates, like Hillary Clinton, and the people in the Democratic Party leadership in Iowa, who are claiming it's somehow untoward for a candidate, like Barak Obama in this case, to urge students who are from out of town or , god forbid, out of state to vote in the Iowa caucuses. Officials in other states have made the same kind of complaint.

Students, in case these people haven't noticed, are full-fledged citizens with full rights.

If they are attending university, they are residing in that state and that community where their school is for at least nine months, and in many cases, if they get summer jobs there, for the full 12 months. They're there as long as many non-student residents, many of whom leave for vacations in the summer too (and many of whom may work out of state much of the year). As in-state residents, theses students have many of the same concerns as any other resident: decent funding for education, good roads, public safety, environmental protection, etc.

They also have specific issues related to their being students at the university, especially when it's a state school like, say, the University of Iowa--for example the out-of-state tuition rate, the amount of money provided by the state to support higher education in the state, the level of faculty salaries, etc.--and they have every reason, and every right, to be politically active in defending those things.

Historically, communities have fought against letting students register to vote locally, claiming that they are "outsiders." Fortunately the courts have upheld the right of everyone to vote where they live, including students. To criticize Obama for urging students to register and participate in Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses is the height of hypocrisy. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/?q=node/76

[polichick]

1. Can students vote while away at college, even if they're dependents?? nt

[marmar]

2. I did, and I was a dependent......

n/t

[Zodiak]

3. Yes, they can.

I most certainly did.

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. What would being listed as a dependent have to do with it?

:shrug:

[polichick]

8. In this new fascist society I thought our polling places might be...

...somehow tied to our taxes ~ glad to find that's not the case (yet).

[sandnsea]

7. Yes

This has been a phony trumped up controversy by Hillary all along. That's the kind of people they are.

[msongs]

4. they can vote at only ONE jurisdiction where they are legally registered, but not school AND home n

[marmar]

5. Nobody's saying they should.....

N'est-ce pas?

[Bitwit1234]

9. I thought the frowned on dupes this is about the tenth time this has

been posted....can't the Obama's find anything else to bash people with.

[marmar]

10. First off, I haven't seen Dave Lindorff's article posted, so I posted it....

Secondly, I'm not an "Obama's" or whatever you refer to Obama supporters as, so please get your facts straight before launching into some baseless accusation.

[polichick]

11. I hadn't seen it either...

But I ignore most of the Clinton and Obama threads these days ~ enough is enough already!