October 23, 2008
With Student Turnout Expected High, Concern Grows Over Intimidation
After a year of heavy turnout by college students and other young voters in the presidential primaries, the general election could be decided in part by whether these same young voters show up at the polls on November 4.
Organizers at the nonpartisan activist group Rock the Vote say they’re taking steps now to ensure that when such younger voters do show up, their ballots are counted.
Rock the Vote leaders said today they anticipate several types of problems that could face new and inexperienced voters on November 4, including confusion about the process and their rights, the failure of election officials to list them as eligible, and unusually high turnout causing long lines at polling stations.
To help counter that, Rock the Vote is taking steps that include the creation of a toll-free number, 1-866-OUR-VOTE, where voters will be able to get help and report polling problems. Rock the Vote is establishing the help line in partnership with the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law and the Brennan Center for Justice, at New York University’s law school.
The group is also organizing public-service advertisements involving celebrities like Samuel L Jackson, Robert DeNiro, Rosie Perez, and Ashanti to encourage young voter participation.
Stephanie Young, a spokeswoman for Rock the Vote, said her group has already heard of more than a dozen reported instances of voter suppression. They include a county registrar of elections in Virginia’s issuing a statement falsely warning college students that if they registered to vote at school, the students could forfeit scholarships, lose health and car insurance, and adversely affect their parents’ tax status, Ms. Young said.
Other examples cited by Ms. Young include several Democratic presidential campaigns and a Des Moines Register newspaper columnist trying in January to dissuade college students from participating in the Iowa caucuses; flyers posted around the Drexel University campus in Philadelphia warning that undercover police will be monitoring them at the polls on Election Day; a group of 909 Georgia Southern students facing challenges last year to their voter-registration applications due solely to their status as students; and the Maryland Board of Elections sending letters last year to thousands of 17-year-olds telling them they could not vote in the presidential primary even though they would be 18 by the time of the election.
Paul Basken | Posted on Thursday October 23, 2008 | PermalinkComments
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I believe that Pennsylvania either prohibits or makes it very difficult for students to vote where they attend college.
At some colleges in states where there is early voting, organizers are helping as many students vote in early polling as possible—to avoid the strong arm tactics that have heard are likely to happen and to alleviate potentially long lines
— Reb Oct 23, 03:29 PM #
Republicans make it a habit to try to suppress voting among likely Democratic groups. I believe this yearthe pro-democracy groups and the Obama organization will be ready for them.
— case hardened Oct 23, 06:28 PM #
Democrats make it a habit to try to fraudulently vote illegals, felons, the deceased-I believe this is the year pro-democracy groups and the MCain organization will be ready for them.
— Teddy Oct 23, 08:51 PM #
Give me a break! College students simply won’t show up, just as they failed to show up in 2004 and 2000, despite their pre-election assurances to pollsters. Most students are too irresponsible to follow through on any of their goals, unless you offer them extra credit.
Think about it: They’re 19 or 20 maybe 21, and they have better things to do than to stand in line with old people.
If only they could text their vote in …
— fg Oct 23, 09:11 PM #
These first four posts are the same tired opinions that come out (generally in the same order, although sometime the Dems are accused before the GOP) every time this topic comes up. I feel like I am teaching the first day of Freshman Seminar—a bunch of kids thinking they are the first people ever to be so clever.
If you all promise me that you are late adolescents, I will cut you some slack for being so unoriginal.
— Shar Oct 24, 06:26 AM #
The only intimidation being exercised this election cycle is on the part of the Obama campaign and its army of goons. First in the caucuses, then in the primaries, and now in the general election, whether in the streets, in the media or on the internet.
— TRB Oct 24, 08:03 AM #
Reb — Not true about Pennsylvania. Registrations in Centre County, where Penn State is, are about over 10,000 since last spring alone. The great majority of these must be students.
— Don Oct 24, 08:48 AM #