Keeping College Students from Voting

[DubaiSis]

Attention college students: You may not be able to change these practices, right now, but you should know where you can legally vote and prepare to vote absentee if you have to. And then contact your state reps and senators and your secretary of state (of the state, not Mrs. Clinton) to complain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/op...=1&ref=opinion

Here's a snippet of the editorial.
Political leaders should be encouraging young adults to participate in civic life, but many Republican state lawmakers are doing everything they can instead to prevent students from voting in the 2012 presidential election. Some have openly acknowledged doing so because students tend to be liberal.

[DGTess]

Despite the obvious viewpoint of this article, the point is, and should be, that to be a knowledgeable voter, you should not only know where you are eligible to vote, but how to do so, and how to do so for candidates whose views you espouse.

[DubaiSis]

Hey, if everyone who was eligible and interested to vote did so, the outcome would be a lot harder to bitch about later. Although there is almost no literal voter fraud there is LOTS of stunts like hanging door knockers in "certain" neighborhoods telling them to vote on Wednesday. I have been involved in elections where this literally happened.

The first step is understanding the voting process and doing whatever it takes to vote. And yes, I'm a lefty lefty, but if voter turn out was high and nobody was turned away due to the stuff mentioned in this article, I would have to take my lumps and deal with it if the righties won.

[amanda6035]

Um, What's wrong with requiring a photo ID? EVERYONE over the age of 18, should have one, even if you don't drive. You vote where your official home residence is located. If that means going home or voting by absentee, then do so.

I dont see anything wrong with it. Not wanting voter fraud sounds like a good explanation to me, and posting an article simply claiming that there is no voter fraud isn't proof. With as much crap as there has always been with people voting who shouldnt be allowed to (aka, non-citizens) or someone voting under a name that's not their own, there is NOTHING wrong with wanting to make sure that there is one vote allowed per eligible persons.

Lord, I wish 2012 were over already for this reason.... I hate election years.

[DZsis&mom]

Most young adults do not know the process... Heck...MOST People do not know the process for voting absentee.

My son went to a Florida State school prior to the last election - when election date was coming close I mentioned to him about absentee - He had already taken care of it. He said there were booths out everyday with information about taking care of absentee voting. As he put it "you would have to deaf, blind & dumb to not take advantage of what was offered on campus to be able to exercise your Right to Vote".

I am sure college campuses will again have this information available to Students. They just need to "notice" it is there!!!!

[DrPhil]

College students and the college educated are a privileged population even if their income and debt ratio do not resemble such privilege, so this topic is about so much more than college student voting.

There is an historical context for everything. Voter requirements such as some form of an I.D. card works when the requirements are applied to everyone and when everyone truly has some form of an I.D.. However, that has not been the case in many cities/states. These requirements were most often applied to certain groups of people because officials knew these people were less likely to have the requirements and therefore would be less likely to vote. The I.D. requirement makes sense but some people (and government agencies) consider it too reminiscent of when certain groups of people were required to take tests to vote.

It is important to pay attention and to research. Organizations, including chapters of NPHC orgs, are working with local communities to teach people of voting age (the young and the old) the importance of staying informed and accessing voting stations. This is the only way to buffer some of the effects of the negative stuff.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501363_1...ce-department/

I hope the average Occupier is/gets informed and votes. I hope the average facebooker, twitterer, and youtuber is/gets informed and votes. I hope the average spender who is stalking the stores for these holiday purchases is/gets informed and votes.

[christiangirl]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Although there is almost no literal voter fraud there is LOTS of stunts like hanging door knockers in "certain" neighborhoods telling them to vote on Wednesday. I have been involved in elections where this literally happened.

You mean like the most recent one?

So here are my questions.

Sorry, they will hear, you have an out-of-state driver’s license. Sorry, your college ID is not valid here. Sorry, we found out that you paid out-of-state tuition, so even though you do have a state driver’s license, you still can’t vote.

1. Paying out of state tuition back in the summer when I came from out of state has nothing to do with this little card I have in my hand now. Once the DMV issues that DL, I thought that officially changes your residency to your new state. Is that not true?

Seven states have already passed strict laws requiring a government-issued ID (like a driver’s license or a passport) to vote, which many students don’t have, and 27 others are considering such measures. Many of those laws have been interpreted as prohibiting out-of-state driver’s licenses from being used for voting.

2. Interpreted by whom and are they relevant?

While I don't like this, I don't see it as the end of the world. Vote absentee if you have to, I guess. However, when I got to college there was a huge push for students to register locally. "You will spend 9-12 months a year HERE for the next 4 years. THIS is your home now, don't let it slip through the cracks. Vote on the initiatives, vote for the leaders whose decisions will affect you." If schools continue to get students all passionate about their new homes then the states pass something like this so the majority can't vote in them (including for the president), that is going to be a problem.

[groovypq]

I don't think this is such a horrible thing. When I was in college, I voted by absentee ballot in my home district. I didn't really know anything about the district in which I went to school.

In 2008, there were a bunch of kids at this school switching their voter registration so they could vote here and "win Pennsylvania for Obama." I would LOVE to know how much research they did on the local elections, the results of which affect me directly...

[33girl]

This is stupid.

Unless your college address is your PERMANENT address - i.e. you intend to make it your home even after you graduate from college - you should be voting absentee in your parents' district or wherever it is your permanent home is. If you don't know how to vote absentee or don't figure it out soon enough in advance, guess what? You're too dumb to vote.

And there's nothing wrong with requiring state or federally issued photo ID. I have no idea of what, say, Bryn Mawr College does when they take their photo IDs. For all I know, they pick homeless people off the street and stick their pictures on random cards. Why should I accept this as proof of anything? You can't use a college ID for check verification or many other things either.

Originally Posted by christiangirl

However, when I got to college there was a huge push for students to register locally. "You will spend 9-12 months a year HERE for the next 4 years. THIS is your home now, don't let it slip through the cracks. Vote on the initiatives, vote for the leaders whose decisions will affect you." If schools continue to get students all passionate about their new homes then the states pass something like this so the majority can't vote in them (including for the president), that is going to be a problem.

Fixed your ambiguous post. Whatever the school wants to do is not the state's business, or vice versa, and the states are the ones making the laws. I personally would question why the school is pushing this so much - it sounds like an indicator of a bad town/gown relationship and like the school figures it will be able to dupe the students into voting for things that aren't that great for the people who actually live there. The average Joes in college towns (I don't mean the profs and administrators) are usually on a MUCH lower socioeconomic level than the average students.

[christiangirl]

^^^Sorry about that. I guess I was typing too fast and a couple of words got left out of my sentence. You fixed it to what I had meant when I posted.

IMO The school was pushing for us to vote locally because that's thousands of people who were affected by the state's legislature who weren't voting for any officials or measures. Voting absentee in our home states was okay but what was the purpose? CA was my "permanent address" but that was really just a label. I don't reap any of the benefits or suffer any of the consequences of what was happening in California because for 70% of the year, I wasn't there. It made sense.

[DubaiSis]

The problem, as I see it, with requiring picture ID for voting is that IDs cost money. If you require an ID to vote, you have to make that ID available for free, and that includes getting the person to the place where the IDs are issued. In some places that is a very tall order and is a way of disenfranchising the poor. Secondly, this type of voter fraud just doesn't happen. It's legislating against hurricanes in Kansas. Being able to present your voter registration card should be sufficient. If the government has done their job, you shouldn't be issued one of those without having been properly vetted.

And if we only let people who understood all the issues vote, there would be probably 1% of the population allowed to vote. MOST people have a series of issues they care about and just guess on the others. I, on the other hand, TRIED to research every state judge who was up for re-election and do you know I couldn't find anything, INCLUDING asking friends who are members of the bar? At the time, I knew a lot of very connected lawyers and they couldn't give me the first clue about who the good ones were.

But back to college students. Your college bill will be one of the most expensive things you purchase in your whole life and will undoubtedly affect your entire future. Why shouldn't you be allowed to vote at school? Also, colleges have a great history of teaching kids the importance of social activism. And that goes for both young Republicans and young Democrats. If you allow those kids to vote now, they are going to be voters the entire rest of their lives. History says once you vote, you are a voter for the rest of your life. So grabbing them at 18 is critical to the future of American democracy.

Now, we can get into an argument about whether we REALLY want democracy or if we only want the right people making our decisions for us if you'd like. I live in a place where the right people make the decisions for me. Thankfully, he is a really good guy and really does what is right for his country. But would I plan for that to be true for the next 225 years? Democracy works such that the right will win out over the wrong, even when you let the people you think are stupid participate.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

The problem, as I see it, with requiring picture ID for voting is that IDs cost money. If you require an ID to vote, you have to make that ID available for free, and that includes getting the person to the place where the IDs are issued. In some places that is a very tall order and is a way of disenfranchising the poor. Secondly, this type of voter fraud just doesn't happen. It's legislating against hurricanes in Kansas. Being able to present your voter registration card should be sufficient. If the government has done their job, you shouldn't be issued one of those without having been properly vetted.

And if we only let people who understood all the issues vote, there would be probably 1% of the population allowed to vote. MOST people have a series of issues they care about and just guess on the others. I, on the other hand, TRIED to research every state judge who was up for re-election and do you know I couldn't find anything, INCLUDING asking friends who are members of the bar? At the time, I knew a lot of very connected lawyers and they couldn't give me the first clue about who the good ones were.

But back to college students. Your college bill will be one of the most expensive things you purchase in your whole life and will undoubtedly affect your entire future. Why shouldn't you be allowed to vote at school? Also, colleges have a great history of teaching kids the importance of social activism. And that goes for both young Republicans and young Democrats. If you allow those kids to vote now, they are going to be voters the entire rest of their lives. History says once you vote, you are a voter for the rest of your life. So grabbing them at 18 is critical to the future of American democracy.

Now, we can get into an argument about whether we REALLY want democracy or if we only want the right people making our decisions for us if you'd like. I live in a place where the right people make the decisions for me. Thankfully, he is a really good guy and really does what is right for his country. But would I plan for that to be true for the next 225 years? Democracy works such that the right will win out over the wrong, even when you let the people you think are stupid participate.

Amen!

[agzg]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

The problem, as I see it, with requiring picture ID for voting is that IDs cost money. If you require an ID to vote, you have to make that ID available for free, and that includes getting the person to the place where the IDs are issued. In some places that is a very tall order and is a way of disenfranchising the poor.

Exactly this. Don't think for one second that this is about keeping college kids from voting because they vote liberal. This is about keeping the poors from voting.

It's not "that easy" for everyone to get a driver's license or passport. There are a lot of people out there who don't have one. Assuming everyone should have one (without legally requiring it in general which would be a huge clusterfuck and making it free) comes from a place of relative privilege.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

The problem, as I see it, with requiring picture ID for voting is that IDs cost money. If you require an ID to vote, you have to make that ID available for free, and that includes getting the person to the place where the IDs are issued. In some places that is a very tall order and is a way of disenfranchising the poor.

Not only the poor, but certain demographic segments of the population tend to be more likely not to have photo IDs. That is why efforts to require photo IDs are sometimes seen as little more than attempts to suppress the vote among minorty groups.

For example: Department of Justice objects to South Carolina's voter law

[SWTXBelle]

When I was an undergraduate (83-86) Hays County (TX) did all they could to prevent college students from voting in San Marcos because we skewed much more conservative than the rest of the county. College Republicans did a great deal of education to make sure students knew how to register and vote, and kept in touch to make sure they didn't pull stunts like telling students who were in line at the official polling close time they couldn't vote. We ended up being given credit by Texas Monthly for voting in the first Republican state senator since Reconstruction.

As for absentee voting, I lived in San Marcos all year - even students who didn't live there year-round lived there for the majority of the year, so the local politics would be of more immediate concern for students, not to mention the amount of money that constituency contributed to the local tax base. Having a voice there is important.

I can't buy some cold medicines without showing an i.d., can't get on a plane, can't open a bank account. Showing an i.d. to vote is a simple thing; if some groups need help to get their i.d.s community groups should help them do it. If the process needs to be simplified, then let's do it.