Debra Houchins, a sophomore psychology major, attempts to register voters on the Drillfield between classes in early September
WHERE DOES VOTER REGISTRATION GO FROM HERE?
One aspect of Virginia's open-armed registration policy is the potential for voter fraud. Students who live out of state and who do not offer obvious clues to registrars concerning their out-of-state status could, conceivably, vote in person in Blacksburg and by absentee at an out-of-state location. Within the commonwealth, the Virginia Election and Registration and Information System prevents multiple votes from being cast under a single name. However, because no national voter system exists, interstate fraud is nearly impossible to detect.
"We don't have a way to check," whether voters are registered in multiple states, Wertz said. "It's a disaster."
Another upshot is pending conflict with local officials. Nutter said that roughly every five years the town of Blacksburg has seen a Tech student run for the town council. While he lauded student voting as a movement toward "being part of a community," the case of Williamsburg looms large in the sense that pushback from entrenched town officials may occur if students do seriously engage their local political scene. Nutter also said while national elections are never decided by a single vote, local elections -- such as state delegate Madison Reeves' 9-vote victory or a Radford Commonwealth's attorney race that was decided by a single vote -- could be affected by students registering to vote in their college communities.
Lastly, the consensus on student voting is a fragile one. Because the actual statutes remain vague, the future of the collegiate franchise rests on the continuation of the political perspective. While the state board of elections calls itself a bipartisan entity, the three members of the board are apportioned by political party with the governor's party taking two of the three seats.
While Alcorn said that "the state Board of Election is an independent policy board and it would be inappropriate for the governor to interject into this board," the fact remains that without a decisive change in the legal statute, a change of governance could result in an abrupt change in voting policy.
Wertz said that the Voter Registrar's Association of Virginia intends to introduce legislation in the spring General Assembly session to implement voter registration guidelines on the model of North Carolina; however, he was not optimistic about the legislation's chances. Alcorn said that several measures have died in the state assembly since the issues with voting in Williamsburg in 2004.
Most tellingly, perhaps, is the case of Nutter, a Tech graduate whose district encompasses the Corporate Research Center and most of Christiansburg.
"I haven't gotten a single call," asking for legislation, he said.
Related video: Voter registration forum at Virginia Tech.
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The better educated young will invigorate the November election. They will help sweep away politics as usual. Talk about hope. This is it with a capital 'O', as in Obama!
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Good Reporting! You made the Google news-wire..now everybody has a chance to understand the obstacles facing young voters.
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Parent if you are concerned how this will affect your child's financial aid and insurance, contact a tax attorney or accountant as well your employer concerning insurance! Do not allow your child to change their home of record until you have done this. Virginia has strict laws about registering vehicles and changing drivers licenses, read up on these as well. Read up on personal property taxes because they could be affected by changing home of record. This is just a short list but you must seriously consider each one before changing anything. Unfortunately the campaigns are not telling you this. And especially Obama's campaign. As a parent with a child who just completed school not too long ago, I am beggin you to take note of all that I said. One last thing all college age kids up to the age of 25 must include their parents income on their FAFSA paperwork. This must be filled out whether you are seeking financial aid or not!
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This is possibly the finest article I have read in the Collegiate Times, in ten years of daily reading. I am very glad to see fully thought-out, long-format reporting that demonstrates this level of investigative dedication.
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Hopefully someone told Radford's registrar about this consensus so he can stop sending pending denial letters because of a dorm address.
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"One aspect of Virginia's open-armed registration policy is the potential for voter fraud. Students who live out of state and who do not offer obvious clues to registrars concerning their out-of-state status could, conceivably, vote in person in Blacksburg and by absentee at an out-of-state location. Within the commonwealth, the Virginia Election and Registration and Information System prevents multiple votes from being cast under a single name. However, because no national voter system exists, interstate fraud is nearly impossible to detect." -Thank you for bringing this point up. The left wingers in Ohio supported by Obama's campaign known as "ACORN" is registering voters illegally in multiple districts within the state. There are buses on all major campuses in Ohio bussing convicted felons, illiterates, and stoned college kids to register in multiple districts knowing that it is illegal. Yes this sounds hard to believe but it is happening. Hope that this stays out of VA.
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Palin insists that women should give birth to the babies that were forced upon them by rape or incest, she has stated many times that she is against abortion in ALL cases (including rape and incest), and we all know she will only install judges who agree with her. McCain says what he thinks is popular even as he, Bush and the Republicans push our country into dept, destroy the status our nation once commanded, (but now has lost), shred the Constitution, unemploy millions, ship jobs overseas to our competitors, foreclose on millions of homes, and use your money to bailout business that ripped you off in the first place. John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the conservative republicans have already gone too far in destroying the moral foundations of our country. I urge you to keep this in mind in the coming election as we rebuild our nation together by voting for Obama, who stated that in his first 100 days he would eliminate all of Bush's unconstitutional signing orders. McCain and Palin are such 'reformers' they would like to overturn the Constitution! Obama on the positive side actually taught constitutional law.
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"Obama on the positive side actually taught constitutional law. " Yet he never understood what the 2nd Amendment means... I can only imagine how he'd interpret the other Amendments, considering he thinks "The People" means the militia... And wasn't Nancy Pelosi's Democratic House supposed to get something, anything, done in it's first 100 days? The only thing that produced was an approval rating for Congress that is worse than Bush's.
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In the 2004 election a high ranking democrat official 'accidentally' voted twice - once where he works in Chicago and once where he lives in southern Wisconsin. The democrats and their cronies all over VT apparently believe that all people have the right to vote and vote twice.
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How's that "Hope" and "Change" workin' for ya?
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