However, the concept of change of residence through voter registration in a town other than your own isn't completely accurate. Phillips provided a more precise understanding of the repercussions of registering to vote in Blacksburg.
"They turned it around," he said. "It's not that registering makes this your permanent address. It's that you shouldn't be registering unless this is your permanent address."
Virginia Code 24.2-101 states, "'Residence' or 'resident,' for all purposes of qualification to register and vote, means domicile and a place of abode. In determining domicile, consideration may be given to ... financial independence, business pursuits, employment, income sources, residence for income tax purposes, marital status, residence of parents, spouse and children ... other factors reasonably necessary to determine the qualification of a person to register or vote."
Back in 2005, several organizations had tried to have people registered to vote in Blacksburg. Groups such as Virginia 21 Coalition and the New Voters Project managed to rake in several thousand voters, mostly students from Tech and Radford University. The same types of questions emerged in terms of voter registration issues.
"The problem is the registrar's office over at Christiansburg," Phillips said. "They may reject that person's voter registration here because they may say you're not actually a resident here. If your driver's license is from somewhere else, you're not a Blacksburg resident ... It's supposed to be your permanent address. Registering to vote doesn't make it your permanent address. But if it's not your permanent address you shouldn't be registering."
If students change their voter registration, they might have to claim independent on their tax returns since they would be claiming residence not with their parents but in their off-campus residence in Montgomery County.
Voting campaign positions are advertised on Craigslist and on posters throughout town. Most of the 20-to-30 minute training sessions they receive tell them how to fill out the actual registration form. When a person asks about anything pertaining to income tax or residence they are referred to the organization's legal consultant.
Wertz welcomes students to register at Montgomery County but to be aware of the issues and to make certain that they have all the information in front of them. He has met with many of the campaigns and is making certain that they are aware of this problem.
"Before they make a quick decision, make an informed decision," Wertz said.
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WRITE IN RON PAUL!
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How come we didn't have to show any proof that we are a US citizen?
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False. The lawyers are coming for you CT.
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Voter supression. Lies, lies, lies.
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Obviously you did not do any real research for this article. It is totally false. I have yet to meet anybody who has been rejected. This is totally voter disenfranchisement!
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Oh please, get off that voter disenfranchisement argument. So lame and so predictable. Why shouldn't we be more suspicious of who registers to vote? As far as i can tell there is no system that ensures each person is in fact a citizen or registered to that particular voting area. Whats stopping someone from voting in 2 locations?
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This article is terrible and full of legal and factual errors. I assume that this will be Ralph's last article with the paper. 1) Virginia Code requires "new residents" to register their auto within 30 days and get a new drivers license within 60 DAYS (not 30 days). However, just because you are a "resident" for purposes of registering to vote doesn't mean you're a "new resident" for licensing/registration purposes. And practically speaking, this law is never ever enforced against students. Never. 2) Montgomery County is registering all students, including those living in dorms, and has for at least the last 4 years (they're not being rejected as Ralph, without citation, says they are). 3) A student's status as an "eligible child" under a parent's health insurance us not affected by voter registration - just call them and ask, they will confirm as much.
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4) A student's status as a "dependent" under their parent's taxes is also not affected by voter registration - "full time students" fall under an exception to the requirement that a dependent live with the parents for over half of the tax year. Again, you will note Ralph fails to provide a citation for this bogus claim. 5) Registrars that are not registering students that live in dorms are acting against the directives of the Virginia State Board of Elections and will likely be hearing from them soon. Again, this is a terrible piece of journalism. Not only because it is full of errors but because it really does have a chilling effect on voting and voter registration. Congratulations, you just disenfranchised some unknown number of now needlessly scared students!
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I've been contacted by 2 student organizations who are calling for Ralph to be reprimanded for this article that's full of inconsistency and lies. Quit trying to scare freshman students from voting for OBAMA! The petitions are coming for Ralph's axe from the paper.
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I was going to place an ad in this paper for my organization. After reading this article... I am insulted by the false accusations and lies that have been written to put fear in freshman democratic voters. Nope. I won't place an ad in the CT now. Infact, I'm calling up all my sister organizations sharing the ad with them so we all know to pull our future ads from the CT. SHAME!
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The Virginia State Board of Elections, the authority on this topic, has taken the position that if a student considers himself or herself a resident of Virginia, then they can register to vote where they go to school. It is not the place of the Registrar to try and figure out if in fact a student is "domiciled" at school, it is the students. The State Board has also plainly said that a dormitory is an acceptable address for registration purposes. College students are adults and should be treated as such.
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What disturbs me the most is that this article made it through editorial review. Not only is the writer responsible for this deliberate campaign of misinformation and sensationalism, but anyone else who let it slip through the cracks. The political motive here is obvious and shameful, not to mention a tried and true tactic of right-wingers across the country. Whether its shutting down roads to curtail Democratic voter turnout or misinforming a key demographic about registration proceedings, we've seen it before and are bound to see it more as November draws closer.
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This article has not mentioned anything about political affiliation. How are you guys deriving these comments about right-wingers and preventing people voting for Obama?
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This article is completely and totally false and I'm astonished that the CT ran it. Try and do a little research next time. I know the retraction is being printed in Tuesday's edition, but it would be nice if a little note was put on the online version for the time being.
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This article has numerous factual errors. I hope the CT prints a full retraction on the front page. Otherwise, it will lose an incredible amount of credibility.
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Liberals: Shouldn't you be getting angry at the LAWYER and GENERAL REGISTRAR AT THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY VOTER REGISTRATION OFFICE for spreading these lies, too?
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Im willing to bet its the same person posting online
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I don't know what I got from this article. I am sure CT doesn't know what they were trying to provide when they wrote this article either.
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Here is the The Roanoke Times article about the same issue http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/175015
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Do note that first time voters are required to show proof that they live at the address they have registered under. If your driver's license does not match your voter registration, you will need to bring extra supporting documents. Also, the voting location for on-campus students is not located on any BT route, so you should plan on calling one of the campaign offices to arrange transportation to the polls.
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nice roanoke article
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Bradford S wrote "As far as i can tell there is no system that ensures each person is in fact a citizen or registered to that particular voting area. Whats stopping someone from voting in 2 locations?" Well, the threat of a long prison sentence for one thing: Registering and/or voting in multiple elections is either a class 5 or class 6 felony in Virginia. You supply your SSN, name, birthdate when you register. The Help America Vote act requires each state to maintain a state wide voter registration database, one purpose of which is to find any duplicate registration. Voters are also required to show an id the first time they vote in a federal election after registering by mail. In subsequent federal, and all state elections, you can sign an affirmation under penalty of perjury if you forgot your id. Double voting is not a real problem in Virginia. I challenge you to document a single case. The real problem is people who use that false idea as an excuse to place barriers in the path of legitimate voters
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Vote Virginia: Let me clarify. When i registered i supplied all that information but none of it was confirmed. I did not have to show my ID when i registered. And besides, we all have heard of Identity Theft. Is it so hard to imagine a person with all the 'credentials' and voting twice when somehow two individuals are able to live off one SS number? There is clearly errors in the systems that check these credentials. In addition, are you willing to tell me that these databases are checked as well as financial databases? Questions are still raised, how do candidates win entire regions by margins larger than the populace living in the region? How did legally dead people vote for Kennedy in the 60s? Do not be naive. Besides are you even familiar with other states voting laws? Not all states require a SS number, some just require proof of residency in the region. That proof can be as simple as another person vouching for you. So once again as stated below, drop that stupid voter disenfranchisement argument.
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I am a student who was encouraged to register to vote during one of my classes. They reassured us there would be no legal implications but now I see that there will be. The sucky thing is that there were probably about 200 students who registered to vote during that class including out of state students...does anyone know of a way to reverse this so that I can still claim my hometown as my permanent address!
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This article is confusing and nonsensical.
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I was a student in Blacksburg for 7 years and voted absentee ballot every year. It was easy and makes all of this arguing ridiculous. Sounds like a bunch of uninformed students making a big deal about nothing. Or maybe just a bunch of Democraps creating a problem where there isn't. Sound familiar????
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