August 1, 2008
The 'Motor Voter Act' Goes to College
Washington — Just as states’ motor-vehicles departments must offer voter registration to citizens, colleges would have to provide it to students, under a bill introduced on Thursday in both chambers of Congress.
The existing Higher Education Act requires colleges to make a “good-faith effort” to provide students with voter-registration forms, but a study during the 2004 presidential campaign found a majority of institutions out of compliance with the law.
The new bill would amend the so-called Motor Voter Act of 1994 to designate as “voter-registration agencies” all colleges and universities that receive federal funds. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat of Illinois, and Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, a Republican of Ohio, introduced the bill (HR 6704) in the House, and Sen. Dick Durbin, also a Democrat of Illinois, introduced it the Senate, calling it the Student Voter Opportunity to Encourage Registration Act, or Student Voter Act.
While the youth vote is attracting a lot of attention, young people’s turnout at the polls still lags behind that of older groups, Mr. Durbin said in introducing the bill. “When an effort is made to reach out to young voters, they will cast a ballot,” he said in a written statement.
A handful of student groups endorsed the bill. The Student Association for Voter Empowerment said it may save colleges money — if they have been running relatively expensive voter-registration drives under the vaguer “good-faith effort” requirement. That group, known as SAVE, has also been drumming up support for students’ civic participation among college presidents, asking them to sign a pledge to support students’ voting rights.
Sara Lipka | Posted on Friday August 1, 2008 | PermalinkComments
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And one other thing…
Ohio requires proof of address as part of one’s identification needed to cast a ballot, particularly if one is registered at a different address than one’s drivers’ license shows. Our students have only a mailbox address, so Oberlin College issued “utility bills” to all students last election, containing the street address of each residence hall and suitable as proof of address student voters needed. Relatively simply done, and a great help at the polls.
— Cal Aug 1, 03:10 PM #