Student Voting Challenged in VA

Students at Radford University in Virginia got some bad news recently-- the local county registrar's office informed them that they were ineligible to vote because they listed their dormitory addresses on their voter registration application.

The county registrar, Tracy Howard, told a local newspaper in October that "a dorm is generally--and I say generally--the same thing as a long-term motel stay." Some students who had registered using their school address had been sent postcards asking them to re-state their "home" address, and those that replied with dormitory addresses again were disqualified. Other students received no requests for clarification, and though they submitted applications more than a month in advance of the deadline, were notified of their ineligibility a week after it had passed.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1971 that students may register to vote where they attend school, and the Virginia state board of elections explicitly states that a dormitory may constitute a valid address. What's more, the additional paperwork sent to students violates the constitutional requirements against discrimination against particular groups of voters, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The center, along with the ACLU of Virginia, sent a letter detailing these complaints last week, and threatening legal action if the students applications are not cleared. The ACLU has also set up a service through their website that allows voters to report problems they experience.

This is just one of several instances of this type of behavior by Virginia registrars in countys with large college populations-- Montgomery County told Virginia Tech students that they could lose scholarships by changing their registration, and in Lynchburg county the registrar informed students he would check if their cars were locally registered and fine those who weren't.

In 2006, the FBI started an investigation in Virginia after widespread voter suppression attempts, mainly through mailings and phonecalls providing false information, were reported almost exclusively in Democratic-leaning and minority communities. This year, with more than 40% of new registrants in Virginia under the age of 25, young people are the biggest threat to Virginia's red-state status. It seems no coincidence that students' rights are the ones being questioned this election.

Comments (25)

1. The center, along with the ACLU of Virginia, sent a letter detailing these complaints last week, and threatening legal action if the students applications are not cleared.

   Time is running out, here. The law is the law. Is there no court of jurisdiction that could order the election board to abide by it??

   Posted by A_Pax_On_Your_Houses at 11/02/2008 @ 4:01pm

2. Ms Currier, I SURE hope you're not trying to build up some CYA if Obama doesn't win Virginia, for your "all-powerful youth vote"!?!??!?!??

   Posted by Maskdelta at 11/02/2008 @ 4:54pm

3. Pax

   Get a life, only the final tally will tell us who wins, but assholes trying to deny citizens their right to vote need to be hammered by the law.

   I don't approve of voter registration fraud either, whoever does it. But actual voter fraud is very different and MUCH more serious.

   Looking at this crap, I can see why the rest of the world looks at us with disgust some times. McCain won't change that, won't change anything, because the status quo is partly his doing.

   Only Obama can bring real change, and even he will have a few mountainous tasks ahead of him and need our support.

   Posted by MajMike at 11/02/2008 @ 5:19pm

4. Can anyone explain to me why universities don't have polling station for students to vote??

   OT: Of course a dorm address is valid. Are we going to make students travel home to vote when that could be thousands of miles away?

   Posted by whateverblah at 11/02/2008 @ 6:17pm

5. These students already cast an absentee ballot using their parents address.

   This was a shot at a second vote,

   Give 'em a break, at least they tried.

   Posted by bleedingheart at 11/02/2008 @ 6:32pm

6. @bleedingheart

   You have proof of this? Otherwise, blow it out your ***.

   Posted by whateverblah at 11/02/2008 @ 6:35pm

7. Ummm, Interesting... CNN is reporting that college students are not voting in the numbers anticipated and that possibly they participated in the primaries as a fad and have now moved on to other distractions. I wonder if this is happening in other college towns.

   Posted by WeldonRobeson at 11/02/2008 @ 8:10pm

8. It is despicable that the states are allowed to carry on this behavior without being formally investigated and charged if the evidence shows suppression of votes. Everyone was once young and if you can bring yourselves to remember what it was like to want to have your vote matter and be counted then you can appreciate the students and the ACLU's position. Change is inevitable.

   Posted by theindividual at 11/02/2008 @ 8:12pm

9. I remember my Dad telling me about when he was a young just returned Vietnam back when you had to be 21 to vote. It was his first election and he was a student. Not living in a dorm but moved to that state (NH) with his family (Wife & child) being denied a vote because he was a student. I thought things have changed. Apparently not.

   Posted by sarcaro at 11/02/2008 @ 8:34pm

10. Meanwhile, I'm sure they'll allow the votes of the students at Falwell's school. (Classes there are canceled on Tuesday so that the students can turn out the Republican vote.) http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/30/conservative.liberty.university/

    Posted by wearyvoter at 11/02/2008 @ 8:53pm

11. Suppression of an opposition is nothing more than an admission of error or flaw in your own view.

    Anyone that tries this hard to silence voters is brandishing a dirty stain upon themselves and democracy in general.

    Will we ever grow? Will we ever advance? Will we realize our potential, or simply fail because of all the ignorance in this country?

    No matter what greatness we build, there is always the dumb clod of a big brother around to come and knock it over.

    Posted by Norman_W at 11/02/2008 @ 9:06pm

12. @whateverblah

    fotti tua madre !!

    Posted by bleedingheart at 11/02/2008 @ 11:01pm

13. I would like to give you a first hand account since I attend Radford University.

    Students away at school who intend on voting in the commonwealth usually vote absentee and register with their legal address (parent's address). An absentee ballot form is filled out and mailed to their home county's registar, then the absentee ballot is mailed to the student, filled out, and mailed back.

    Becuase it is an election year there has been a massive registration drive on campus, the students running this voter drive have messed up by not informing the students properly that they should be register with their legal addresses rather than their "temporary addresses" if they lived off campus and changed their legal addresses to their appartments this would not be a problem. It is unfair to force mongomery county to admit these students who are tempory residents to infultrate the polls and distract from the voice of the permenat residents of mongomery county.

    Posted by Radford_Student at 11/03/2008 @ 12:48am

14. the students running this voter drive have messed up by not informing the students properly that they should be register with their legal addresses rather than their "temporary addresses" if they lived off campus and changed their legal addresses to their appartments this would not be a problem. It is unfair to force mongomery county to admit these students who are tempory residents to infultrate the polls and distract from the voice of the permenat residents of mongomery county. Posted by Radford_Student

    Any student may register their dorm address as their legal address, that's the thrust of the voting rights act of 1971. What the registrar is doing violates Virginia law, explicit guidelines issued by the State Board of Elections stating that dorm room addresses are acceptable residencies for voting purposes, and the U.S. Constitution. Quite a feat indeed, so lets toast the registrar and their ignorance, long may it last.

    Here's another Radford student: "I've lived in Radford for six years," says graduate student Amber Keen. "I'm a Resident Director in a dorm--this is where I live, so this is where I registered to vote." Keen sent in her voter registration form with her university address a month before the registration deadline, but only received a rejection letter a week after the deadline. She was denied her constitutional rights. But fear not Virginians, for yours, is a government of the 'real' people, by the 'real' people, for the 'real' people.

    Posted by hdthoreau at 11/03/2008 @ 03:36am

15. I'm happy to agree with "A_Pax_On_Your_Houses," "TheIndividual," "Sarcaro," "Norman_W," "HDThoreau," and for the most part also with "MajMike" and "WhateverBlah."

    I don't like it any more than "MajMike" when names like "Mickey Mouse" appear on voter-registration forms, because it makes a mockery of our most solemn duty as citizens. But just try voting as "Mickey Mouse" -- and just try changing the outcome of the election by voting multiple times. This is extremely risky to try and likely to fail.

    It's the officials who preside over local elections, who have the power to throw away thousands of duly cast votes, who pose the REAL threat to our democracy. They are also the ones who should be severely punished if they fail to count every legitimately cast vote. I don't believe the laws we have on the books are tough enough. I'd recommend a mandatory minimum prison sentence for every crooked election official who disenfranchised even one citizen, and I'd multiply it times the number of stolen votes.

    "LVLiberty's" advice is bad, as usual, and I can only hope that this is only because of ignorance and not malice. Here's what Greg Palast says about voting by mail:

    "In the US in 2004, from official reports, half a million (526,426) absentee ballots were received but not counted -- and those are just the ones they acknowledge receiving!"

    Your vote is much more likely to be "lost" if you are black: "[In 2004, b]lack voters' absentee ballots were rejected at a rate 316% higher than whites'."

    Palast says: "For those of you who mailed in your ballot, please tell me, what happened to it? You don't know, do you? I can tell you that officially, three-fourths of a million absentee ballots were never counted last time, on the weakest of technical excuses."

    Posted by JakobFabian at 11/03/2008 @ 09:04am

16. Radford Student:

    How is your interpretation of the law regarding a dorm being a"temporary address" the right one? Did you decide that the ruling of the U.S Supreme Ct was invalid? Sorry it looks like you and the County Registrar's Office are wrong and eligible student voters are being denied the right to vote.

    For all of you who believe that students are trying to vote twice, give it a rest. I have moved since the last election so am technically registered to vote in two locations, as many people are. I even got a call from a candidate from TX (I live in SC now) telling me that indications were I hadn't voted and he needed my vote. I have voted. In SC.

    It isn't illegal to be registered to vote in two locations, only to vote twice. These students are just trying to vote once, and even though they will be the generation to carry the burden of this finacial mess, the environmental mess, and foreign policy mess, we see attempts at voter suppression.

    Why is it Democrats try to insure that all voters who are eligible are able to vote and Republicans often concentrate their efforts on making sure that certain demographics aren't able to vote? It is sad. Of course, they are also the party that believes they are the champions of democracy.

    Posted by loria at 11/03/2008 @ 09:16am

17. Dear Radford_Student,

    I have to wonder if you are a real college student, or just a Republican shill. If you are a student -how's your grades, with spelling like this:

    "registar", "Becuase", "appartments", "mongomery", "permenat","infultrate", and even your own county "mongomery." That's a lot in one short email.

    Regardless, student voter suppression is against the law -but then again, laws whether national or international haven't mattered much to Republicans the past eight years.

    Posted by Suttree at 11/03/2008 @ 09:30am

18. Nonsense. Mail in ballots. I never travel to a polling station. I mail my ballot in each election.

    Posted by lvliberty1

    You love liberty but are to lazy to show up and go through the process?????? I have heard a lot of mail in ballots get tossed out with the trash. Which is why I refuse to do it that way. So I get in the line and wait my turn.

    Posted by ganddw42 at 11/03/2008 @ 09:59am

19. Two points...

    The link on the phrase "just one of several instances of this type of behavior" comes back to this page. I'd really like to see the original stories from those other communities.

    I'd give "Radford student" a break on the bad spelling; could be just bad vision on a dinky laptop screen, but s/he should know Radford is not part of Montgomery County; it's an independent city with its own registrar of voters. Latest story: http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/182595

    Posted by newvaguy at 11/03/2008 @ 10:22am

20. We have really gotten to a sad moment in our history when we all have to go to Washington wearing red or blue shirts to protest the outcome on an election. Turn the election over to WalMart or Capital One and they can also give us a receipt. How about a voter holiday. Friday, Saturday, Sunday?

    Posted by lachatte at 11/03/2008 @ 11:22am

21. The link is now fixed-- it is to a September press release from the ACLU of Virginia.

    "The ACLU's letter to the Radford registrar follows a recently reported incident in Montgomery County where the registrar told college students that their parents may no longer be able to claim them as dependants for tax purposes or that they may lose scholarships if they declare a separate college address for voting purposes.

    The Lynchburg Commissioner of Revenue recently warned students not to register locally, saying he would check to see it students' cars were registered in Lynchburg and fine those who had failed to do so. The remarks came in the wake of attempts by Jerry Falwell, Jr. to encourage Liberty University students to vote in local elections.

    In 2000, the ACLU criticized the Fredericksburg registrar for refusing to allow students with dormitory addresses to register for local elections. The registrar later agreed not to automatically reject applications from students living on campus. In 2004, the ACLU provided legal representation to four William and Mary students whose applications to register in local elections had been rejected."

    Posted by CoraCurrier at 11/03/2008 @ 12:25pm

22. I suppose it must be hilarious to even consider that a student who thinks such things actually exists on Radford University's campus. Sorry to disappoint but she does, I am currently a junior and a political science major with concentration in American government. I am tempted to identify myself but will probably be harassed by you instead.

    I apologize to Suttree, and Newvaguy I have historically bad spelling stemming from a learning disability in writing. I happen to mixup letters when I type. If you want to turn your nose up at me for that go-ahead. In a rush of typing I must overlooked it.

    And yes you are correct in that Radford City is actually separate from Montgomery County.woops

    It does not dilute the point that the students who were running the voter drive on our campus to hold the students registering that it was "okay" to put on your form address which is a mistake if they do not live in the dormitories year-round. Unless that is the case they should've put down their legal address if their legal address was changed to the dormitory we would not be having this conversation right now.

    Yes I do love liberty and would rather stand in line with the rest of my fellow citizens. Unfortunatly my campus is four hours away from my polling station and as a full-time student do not have the time to drive that far.

    It is an outrage that various persons and groups are using people in my campus community for political gain. The media tends to distort things, from how things appear on the ground, often until barely recognizable from it's original state. It happened at during the shootings are Virginia Tech, and it's happening now.

    This does not help Radford's reputation since we are currently trying remake ourselves.

    Posted by Radford_Student at 11/03/2008 @ 2:42pm

23. Student voting rights are definitely not being respected in the gothic little town of Radford, VA, and many residents here have long been concerned about this. Its a bad lesson in civics, and terribly unfair, to keep students from the polls.

    Clearly, the location where a citizen should vote is fixed by the Constitution. It provides for a census every ten years to apportion voting districts. Students are always counted at their universities by the US Census, which calls them "special places." Therefore, in terms of federal voting rights, the university is clearly the appropriate location for student voting.

    Despite whatever ambiguity may or may not exist in state law, the clear responsibility of a voter registrar, under the US Constitution, is to help citizens vote and not to stand in their way.

    Yet Radford's voter registrar has always taken a restrictive approach. A few years ago, he threatened criminal action against Radford University college professors who gave students small amounts of extra credit for voting.

    The city council has also taken a restrictive approach, making sure that local elections are held in early May, when students are out of town.

    But who can blame them? Who knows what unreasonable things students might demand if their rights were respected? They might demand an end to sloppy police procedures, or free speech rights, or decent off-campus housing? Where would it end?

    -- Prof. K.

    Posted by ProfK at 11/03/2008 @ 3:02pm

24. It does not dilute the point that the students who were running the voter drive on our campus to hold the students registering that it was "okay" to put on your form address which is a mistake if they do not live in the dormitories year-round. Unless that is the case they should've put down their legal address if their legal address was changed to the dormitory we would not be having this conversation right now. Posted by Radford_Student at 11/03/2008 @ 2:42pm

    Radford_Student, you can register to vote at whatever address You regard as your primary legal residence. This can be your school address or your home address. They do not have to live in the dorm year round. All that's required is that they are students at the university. Next, take the case of a homeless person: you don't need a home to register (or as you're fond of saying a 'legal' residence). But you do need to identify a place of residence which can be a street corner, park, shelter, or Any other place where you usually stay. Furthermore, you need a mailing address, but you can use the address of a relative or shelter or Anyone willing to accept mail for you. Now, if a homeless person can register any place they usually stay and can use the mailing address of a relative then a student can use their dorm address AND the mailing address of their parents or whomever

    Posted by hdthoreau at 11/03/2008 @ 5:41pm

25. Radford_Student, thanks for taking voting seriously. And for tolerating folks who snark about typos. I'm not sure what "primary legal residence" is, but I suspect it's wherever the person sincerely says it is, including a college dorm where you live for two-thirds of the year.

    Do you "still live at home with your parents" or is the dorm your first step out into the world?

    When I was in college, I lived in my parents' home for two years, then a dorm for three semesters (paying all my own expenses), then in an off-campus apartment for one semester.

    I thought of the intervening summer as "vacation" at my parents' home; my life was in the university town. I cared more about whether /its/ streets had sidewalks, its fire alarms worked, and its police came when I called than I did about anything going on back in my parents' city. Ironically, when I graduated, THEY moved to a new city, too.

    Posted by newvaguy at 11/06/2008 @ 6:42pm