Assault on student voting: Just the latest GOP overreach

[upstatecajun]

The right to cast a ballot and choose one's representatives in government from alderman to president is viewed as a quintessential and inalienable right of the American democratic experience. The expansion of this right to an ever-wider range of previously disenfranchised populations has been a cornerstone of all the great civil rights movements in America. And not coincidentally, these expansions have been opposed by conservatives at every turn.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/13/955352/-Assault-on-student-voting:-Just-the-latest-GOP-overreach












http://www.liberalohioan.com/index.html

[Obamanaut]

1. It looks to me like the proposed changes to student voting is only

limiting their ability to vote in local elections (where they are attending school), but does not prohibit them from getting an absentee ballot from the area of their permanent residence.

If one wishes to vote locally, establish a residence. If one lives in a dorm, or otherwise does not maintain a residence locally, absentee is an answer.

Here are some earlier threads on recent/proposed changes.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=611096

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=590987

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=588261

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=582111

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=566939

[atreides1]

2. It'll have to go before the SCOTUS

The Supreme Court decision of March 21, 1972, declared lengthy requirements for voting in state and local elections unconstitutional and suggested that 30 days was an ample period. Most of the states have changed or eliminated their durational residency requirements to comply with the ruling, as shown. Note, for all states, in order to register to vote, an applicant must be a U.S. citizen, a legal resident of the state, and 18 years old on or before election day. Additionally, most states do not permit an individual to vote if he or she is a convicted felon currently serving time in prison or has been declared mentally incompetent by a court of law.



Read more: Residency Requirements for Voting — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781452.html#ixzz1Ga11eWTm

[csziggy]

20. Isn't it already settled law since SCOTUS already ruled on this

As you noted? Why should they have to decide the same issue again when there has been no substantive change in anything affecting it?

I live in a "college" town where the students can affect the balance of party affiliations. Even students living in dorms are allowed to register to vote by our wonderful supervisor of elections. When I was still a student I knew students whose only legal residence was their dorm room.

One friend in particular had no other place to call home - when he decided to not go for a medical degree, his father disowned him so he was working his way through college. The dorm and the campus food plan was his most economic way to survive. (Ironically when he went back for his master's he lost his grant - it turned out that the father who disowned him was still claiming him as a deduction on his taxes and that invalidated his grant application, even though my friend had not known who his father was doing. His father had not given him a dime for five years at that point.)

I remember how happy he was when the Supreme Court decision came down that he could register to vote where he had been living for nearly three years. Even though he had been old enough, he had been turned away by the old supervisor of elections since his only residence was the dorm.

I am tired of our rights being taken away by Rethugs ignorant of the law and history.

[CreekDog]

4. stop defending this

Democrats don't support disenfranchising anybody.

i voted while a student in Arizona.

[Obamanaut]

7. Can you tell the difference between "...defending this..." and "...this is

what it looks like to me..."?

'It looks like to me...' is suggestive of not being totally familiar with these proposals, and there are many (as evidenced by multiple threads and several states), so would it not be better to offer enlightenment? Two other people did.

And good for you for voting in Arizona.

[CreekDog]

8. the policy you just defended would've prevented me from voting in Arizona

and i was referring to your support of restricting college students' rights to vote in local elections.

that's just plain anti-Democratic and here you are on DU supporting it.

[Obamanaut]

11. All they have to do to vote in a local election is to change their residency

to a valid address in the area. That's pretty much what other people do when they move. The students have tha right to vote where they live if the have residency - isn't that true?

I've been registered in several different areas since becoming eligible to vote many years ago. I moved. I took proof of residency to the elections office, and lo, it was done.

[atreides1]

6. Absentee ballot is good

That's how military personnel not stationed in their home states are have to vote, but military pay is not taxed by the state they are stationed in but by their home of record.

So, if out of state college students are going to be required to vote using absentee ballots, then their wages from an employer should only be taxed by their home states also, not the state that they are attending school in.

It is fair.

[CreekDog]

9. people should be able to vote wherever they are staying

or at their "home" if in another state.

when i was an out of state student, working at the Grand Canyon, the mail was so slow that I had difficulty getting my absentee ballot in time. from then on, I just voted in Arizona. in fact, while going to school there, i had a lot more familiarity with Arizona candidates and issues than i did of candidates and issues in the Bay Area and state of California.

[CreekDog]

10. you say *ONLY*

apologist.

[Obamanaut]

12. It is only limiting if they choose not to change their residency. Do an

address change, go to the elections office, and lo, it is done.

Now, inhale - exhale. Repeat from time to time.

[CreekDog]

13. if they give you that option

Again you are being an apologist foot those that want to refive student voting.

[Obamanaut]

14. Students, for all intents and purposes, are adults. And like other adults

if they want to vote in elections where they are attending school, establish residency.

If they don't, they can do what many civilians and military do, request absentee ballots.

It really doesn't seem as hard as you want to make it.

[CreekDog]

16. when you move, how soon can you register to vote in your new place?

and what if you're planning to live their for just 6 months? should that stop you from registering?

yes or no?

[Obamanaut]

17. If one is planning to live in a spot for only six months, he/she knows nothing about

the local issues. In Duval County, Florida, there is no specific residence time, just be a permanent resident. So, you can move there, change your address, register to vote (knowing nothing about local stuff - but hey, why be an informed voter as long as you show up)

Or, register for classes at a University, get your new address, and there you are - a student registered to vote and you got your new ulcer for nothing.

I think this is a case where people are becoming outraged simply for the sake of outrage. It is so easy to move and register, or arrange for an absentee ballot if you don't want to change from your former area.

Every election cycle we see people on campuses registering people. It isn't that hard.

[CreekDog]

18. you should be ashamed of what you are saying

you are telling people not to vote unless they plan to live somewhere long term.

that's ridiculous.

and it's anti-democratic.

[Obamanaut]

21. Now, that is just plain stupid! I am saying that if one plans to be in an area

for a short time (your example was six months), it might be better to do an absentee ballot in the place recently departed.

If your plan is to stay, as soon as you get rental info, light deposits with address, etc, register in your new spot. That includes students. It really isn't that hard.

Hard to imagine there is time for such nit picking in amongst all that pseudo outrage.

Breathe in. Exhale. Repeat that sequence from time to time

[CreekDog]

22. yes, but the proposals that you don't have a problem with --would prevent doing that!

that's the issue!

the proposals all add an additional layer of confirmations of residency that other people need not provide. and nevermind that sometimes a school simply won't tell you whether you're in state or not.

when I was transferring from BYU to California, the State University system wanted a letter from BYU, a private school, saying that I was *not* a resident of Utah. Flummoxed, I went to BYU's records center and they said, "we don't determine whether you are or aren't a resident of the State of Utah --why are they asking for this?".

(to their credit, they wrote me a little letter to get over this hurdle...but then the State of California balked because it wasn't what they wanted).

now imagine if I had to get the same thing in order to vote? it's very likely i couldn't get what i was required to get.

[JoePhilly]

3. The goal is to make it more difficult to vote, period.

If any group is forced to vote absentee, their vote count will drop.

[bemildred]

5. It's not new. nt

[KamaAina]

15. In New Haven, one entire ward and most of another is composed of Yale students

the notion that students at less elite institutions are somehow less entitled to vote at them is profoundly undemocratic.

[highplainsdem]

19. According to CampusProgress.org, ALEC is behind these efforts. Link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x590917