September 24, 2008

Members of Congress Worry That Students Are Being Misled About Voting Rights

Washington — The House majority leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, and several of his Democratic colleagues said today at a news conference that they were concerned about ensuring access to the polls for the estimated 44 million eligible voters who are between the ages of 18 and 29.

The news conference came a day before a Congressional hearing on student voting rights and hours after a Republican county clerk in Colorado was criticized for falsely stating that students could not register to vote in Colorado if their parents had claimed them as dependents in another state. The clerk now says he was wrong, but the state’s Democratic Party chairwoman said the incorrect information had been posted on the Web site of Colorado College for the past six months.

Today’s news conference was co-sponsored by the Student Association for Voter Empowerment and People for the American Way. At the event, People for the American Way officials outlined their strategy to focus on 15 swing states, including Colorado, that have reported problems with student voting in the past. The group will distribute state-specific voter-information booklets to community leaders and pocket-size pamphlets to help voters navigate each state’s regulations on everything from registering to obtaining an absentee ballot.

The Congressional hearing, to be held on Thursday afternoon by the House of Representatives’ Committee on House Administration, will deal with student voting rights. Witnesses from Oberlin College, Virginia’s voter registry, and student groups are expected to testify. —Reeves Wiedeman

Comments

1. Useful site from NYU Law’s Brennan Center on Student Voting Rights:
   http://www.brennancenter.org/studentvoting

   Use it. Recommend it.

   — Bonnie    Sep 25, 09:17 AM    #

2. So, Britchky, those two counties are in 15 different states?
   Trying to discourage people from voting is reprehensible. Period. Lying about the motives for doing so doesn’t change them and certainly doesn’t change the law.

   — BertW    Sep 25, 09:24 AM    #

3. I for one am glad that the media has spent some time on this matter. Voting is THE fundamental right of every American citizen and any effort to interfere with that right should be taken seriously. In addition, this is the first time in decades that we have seen younger Americanas excited and engaged in politics. We shoud harness that energy not obstruct it. Finally we need to learn from the lessons of Florda – every vote matters.

   — Madeline    Sep 25, 09:49 AM    #

4. It seems pretty cynical and partisan to me that People for the Amerian Way only care about voters in 15 “swing states.” What about voters in the other 42 states that Obama has visited?

   — J. Ward    Sep 25, 10:53 AM    #

5. The issue is not where Obama has visited. The issue is where election officials are putting out false information to discourage students from voting. (I didnt know it was 15 states. I’d only seen stories on Virginia, North Carolina and Colorado. But I wouldn’t be surpired to hear it’s a nationwide GOP strategy to augment their “voter fraud” fraud.)

   — BertW    Sep 25, 11:27 AM    #

6. I think that more state specific voter information should be distributed to students everywhere so they can be aware of what they need to do and it will reduce confusion!

   — KellyPitts    Sep 25, 11:31 AM    #

7. BertW, did you read the blog item? It clearly states that PAW is “focusing on 15 swing states.” Just try to tell me this isn’t an effort to help Democrats.

   — J. Ward    Sep 25, 11:51 AM    #

8. KellyPitts, schools that receive Title IV funding (student loans, Pell Grants, etc.) are required to actively promote voter registration on their campuses.

   — David    Sep 25, 12:39 PM    #

9. If being honest about student’s rights is “an effort to help Democrats” then there are some serious things wrong with the political system.

   Focusing on 15 swing states is necessary because there isn’t enough time, energy, or money to fight for the rights of students in every state. Decisions have to be made about the greatest impact that the fraud has had and try to balance it out. It’s a shame that any fighting has to go on at all. If only everyone cared about constitutional rights…

   Ah, I can dream, can’t I?

   — Nathan    Sep 25, 12:39 PM    #

10. I live in El Paso County, Colorado, and I’ve upbraided our Clerk and Recorder before now about his crusade to discourage voters he believes to be transient here. He ran a “survey” a year or so ago that was really a push-poll designed to establish that there is a problem with undocumented aliens trying to vote. There seems in fact to be no such problem. His office engineered long lines in 2006 at the polling place used by Colorado College students voting. Answering S. Britchky’s point about what states “should be obligated” to insist on I’d say that, if residency for voting on state and local issues is 30 days, that applies to students too. There can’t be a special disability applied to people just because they are students!

    — Owen Cramer    Sep 25, 12:48 PM    #

11. Living in NH, where voters were disrupted (and violaters were prosecuted), I’ve seen where this can change an election. I am concerned that one comment above is less interested in an election that reflects the will of the voters, and more interested in how one organization may or may not have the right purpose. Let’s put our outrage in the right place. The right to vote is vital. Replicans and Dems and all other party affiliates need to be able to vote for our society to continue to be vital and relevant.

    In my view misinformation – accidental or otherwise – which disenfranchizes any American, out to be prosecuted. The vote is no small matter but the basis for the will of the people.

    In addition, labelling students as too transient is random and partison. What about folks who have two homes in various states? Why not go after them? What about apartment dwellers? If one follows this train of thought it seems to take us back to the feeble notion that only land owners can vote – not a good place for a representative democracy to go.

    Let’s all vote and make a difference!

    — voting is still a right    Sep 25, 02:49 PM    #

Previous: Analysis of Bin Laden's Verses to Be Published in Academic Journal
Next: Federal Spending on Student Aid and Research Likely to Remain Flat Through March