Dude, Where's My Ballot? Students Nationwide Fight Obstacles to Voting
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 10/13/2004
Even in 2004, some students at the historically black university of Prairie View A&M in Prairie View, Texas, have required court intervention to secure the right to vote.According to Project Democracy's "Not Welcome, Not Home: Barriers to Student Voting" report, Waller County, Texas's attorney general issued a statement in November 2003 that claimed university students were not eligible to vote in county elections because of their residency status. He further stated that any attempts by students to vote could result in incarceration.
Students, in conjunction with the Prairie View Chapter of the NAACP, sued - successfully - to allow dormitories to be classified as main residencies. As a result, in this November's election more students in the area will be able to participate in the electoral process.
Some view incidents such as those at Prairie View as racially motivated. Tanya Clay of People for the American Way Foundation says that because Waller County is a predominately white and conservative town, maintaining the status quo is essential to its residents. Having a large voting block of young African Americans could and probably would hinder the residents' desired election results.
The League of Conservation Voters Education Fund's Project Democracy studies these very issues. The situation at Prairie View A&M, the report states, is not an isolated incident. In fact, stories of false information regarding eligibility and registration are more common than one might expect.
The report states that "many election and school officials tell students they will lose their financial aid and scholarships by registering to vote in their respective college towns, thereby changing their residency."
Although many students opt to vote by absentee ballot, Project Democracy says that this method has its problems also. For example, in Alabama, "a student must request a ballot between 40 days and 5 days before the election, and return it by 5 p.m. the day before Election Day signed by two witnesses or a notary."
With students facing obstacles such as these, the question to "Why don't young people vote?" might not be difficult to answer.
Students and voting rights advocates say that some local political officials do not want to hear from the younger segment of the population. Often students are treated as outsiders in their respective college communities, creating an "us vs. them" factor between residents and college students.
In Arizona, students conducting a voter registration drive at the University of Arizona were erroneously told that registering out-of-state students could be a felony. The local Fox News affiliate amplified the message.
But students and voting rights advocates all over the country have been encouraging youth to vote, despite such obstacles.
On September 23, several student groups, including Rock the Vote, the New Voters Project, and the Students Rights Campaign, sponsored the College Vote National Day of Action. In order to encourage students to vote, the groups have been educating and involving tens of thousands of students nationwide.
"Although federal and state courts have clearly established that students have the right to vote where they go to school, and the Supreme Court affirmed this right in 1979, many local election officials have not gotten the message," an action alert from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights sates. "Officials across the country have refused to process student voter registration forms, used intimidation tactics, and created next-to-impossible residency standards to discourage students from voting in their college towns."
As part of Children's Defense Fund's (CDF) "National Youth and Student Voter Registration Day" in September, thousands of youth nationwide mobilized to register voters. According to CDF, "everyday in America more than 2,000 babies are born into poverty, nearly 2,500 children are confirmed as abused or neglected and more than 1,700 children are born without health insurance."
"Students from more than 50 college campuses in 19 states along with young people from churches, homeless shelters, after-school programs, and civil rights organizations are stepping forward and taking responsibility for representing the interests of children," CDF states. "These young people just may change the course of history!"
In addition to these efforts, the nonpartisan Election Protection coalition, which includes Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, People for the American Way Foundation, and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, has trained and deployed thousands of volunteers at polling places in areas where voting rights are most at risk.
The United States Students Association also sponsored an Electoral Action Training. The Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote 2004 encourages civic participation and promotes a better understanding of public policy and the electoral process among the Asian and Pacific Islander American community.
