Collegiate Times

State-funded universities such as Virginia Tech could soon become designated as "voter registration agencies" through the Student Voter Opportunity to Encourage Registration Act.

Introduced to the House on March 26, the VOTER Act would thereafter require universities to give all students the opportunity to register to vote at the same time they register for classes.

The Student Association for Voter Empowerment is the force behind the measure. SAVE orchestrated the measure more than a year ago to follow along with one of its organizational philosophies that voter registration should be institutionalized wherever possible, and state-funded universities served as the perfect spot to encourage young voters.

"It would just make sense to apply the same principles of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 and apply that to colleges and universities that receive state funding." said Matthew Segal, SAVE president, referring to legislation that creates easier registration through locations such as the Department of Motor Vehicles and libraries. "We're striving to weave voter registration into the very institutions people are a part of."

A 2004 study by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement revealed that 22 percent of 18 to 29 year olds did not vote because they missed the registration deadline, and an additional 10 percent of that age group did not know where or how to register to vote. SAVE recognized there was a problem and set out to find a solution.

Since the VOTER Act's conception a year ago, SAVE began to approach senators from various states in an effort to build supporters for the act.

Sen. Dick Durbin, Reps. Jan Schakowsky, and Steven LaTourette responded took on the mantle of the VOTER Act and introduced to the House.

The act doesn't address any issues related to establishing domicile prior to registering.

Currently, 49 of 50 states require that a person establish domicile prior to registering to vote, said Randy Wertz, general registrar of elections in Montgomery County. Wertz is also president of Voter Registrars Associates of Virginia, which is an organization that has three members working alongside three members of the Registrars Association of Virginia, a representative from the State Board of Elections, plus the chairman of the Virginia State Board of Elections to see whether there is a way to work around the problem.

The task force wants to utilize Virginia law to develop these policies, but Wertz said, "I don't know how Congress will deal with that issue," and later added  "they may not."

"Many students have an ideological conception that voter registration is harder than it actually is," said Craig Brians, professor of political science at Tech.

While he commends the VOTER Act for making the registration process easier for those students that may be hesitant, Brians recognized that for some who may be registered, it may "require too much effort to get up and go do something you didn't plan on doing that day."

Instead of making the process easier, Brians said the real key was to "make young voters excited about voting."