How, not who, may be obstacle for youth vote

How, not who, may be obstacle for youth vote
Groups work to tell students how to cast ballot and where amid confusing state laws, suppression tactics

BY PAOLA SINGER
WASHINGTON BUREAU

October 23, 2004

WASHINGTON -- Young people in 2004 appear to be shedding the political apathy that has characterized them for the past three decades, with recent surveys indicating their turnout at the polls could be one of the highest since 1972.

According to a Pew Research Center September sampling, 60 percent of eligible Americans younger than 30 say they are registered to vote and have given a lot of thought to the upcoming election. Yet their newfound political appetite still has to face the Election Day test: how to vote, and where to vote.

For college students, many of whom are voting for the first time, state-specific voting laws can lead to confusion or pose barriers. Moreover, studies have shown that students have been the target of voter suppression efforts in recent elections.

A report released last month by the League of Conservation Voters, a pro-environment political organization, found numerous cases of student disenfranchisement, many of them in battleground states, and declared the reasons are often political.

"We are turning first-time voters into nonvoters, which could have a huge impact in the future," said Lora Wondolowski, youth program director for the organization.

Among the incidents, the report mentions Dartmouth College students being challenged in 2002 by Republican poll watchers who argued the students were not legal residents of New Hampshire, and thus could not vote.

"They were telling them that they could lose their financial aid and they would be committing voter fraud by voting in New Hampshire," said Karen Liot Hill, coordinator of student programs at Dartmouth. "In reality you have to be a U.S. citizen, over 18 years old and have your domicile in New Hampshire. College students can choose their college address as their primary address."

Republican leaders denied that lawyers hired by the party were sent to intimidate students, but were sent to inform them of the legal repercussions of changing their residency.

Because of the problems exposed in the 2000 presidential election, many independent organizations have been working to educate student voters. Rock the Vote, one of about a dozen nonpartisan campaigns that seeks to inform young voters and encourage them to vote, offers state by state data about registration deadlines, absentee ballot regulations and other information through their Web site.

'Suppression tactics'

Hans Riemer, Washington director of Rock the Vote, said that although they've done a better job this year letting students know they are allowed to vote in their school state, they have not been able to stomp out "blatant suppression tactics" nationwide. He attributed the problem to the lack of "a real good standard" in federal election laws. Few states bar students from voting, but there is selective enforcement of the law, said Riemer, mentioning Virginia and New Hampshire as states that have developed more barriers.

At Dartmouth, students have taken the matter into their own hands. Sophomore Kaelin Goulet designed a Web site to dispel "myths pertaining to student voting and whether they can be registered in New Hampshire."

"Due to New Hampshire's status as a swing state, we have a lot of kids looking to cast their ballot here," said Goulet, 18. "We estimate that 3,000 undergrads out of 4,000 are registered."

For the 12 states considered battlegrounds, the youth citizen population nears 11 million. Within these, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan have the largest number of eligible young voters.

Matt Scafidi, a University of Pennsylvania student working for the Rock the Vote campaign, said in the remaining week they will have makeshift ballots in all college houses "for those who have never seen a ballot box." "It's really important to let young voters know about the identification requirements and where the polling places are," said Scafidi, 22.

For instance, there is only one polling site at Penn. This has set off a debate between the school's Democrats and Republicans, who initially worked together to obtain additional polling sites. Now the Republicans allege more polling sites could cause confusion and make way for voter fraud.

Voting bloc

Nationwide, 18- to 29-year- olds will account for 21 percent of eligible voters, a substantial figure compared with the percentage of eligible black and Latino voters, respectively 8 and 12. The number of young people in the nation has grown in recent years to 40 million.

Young people have already encountered problems at the polls in this election. One hundred students from Iowa State University at Ames were wrongfully denied their right to vote Thursday, said Adam Alexander, spokesman for the New Voters Project campaign. A polling site closed its doors to students who had arrived 15 minutes before the 4 p.m. closing time. Thursday was the last day they could cast an early vote, he said.

Pete Woiwode, a senior at the University of Michigan leading nonpartisan get-out-the-vote efforts, said he is encouraging the more than 10,000 students registered to vote in Ann Arbor to bring picture IDs and proof of a Michigan address to any of the five polling sites on campus.

"Students are citizens too, and they deserve an equal right to participate."