NORFOLK
Norfolk election officials on Friday reluctantly loosened procedures for registering college students to vote after protests from presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign and an admonishment from state election officials.
The Illinois senator's campaign complained that the Norfolk registrar's policy of sending a questionnaire to anyone applying to register from a college campus discouraged students from following through. The State Board of Elections asked general registrar Elisa J. Long to halt the practice.
The Norfolk Electoral Board agreed to that but said in a statement: "This compliance is with the understanding that the Board strongly feels that by doing so, we are out of compliance with Virginia Election Laws."
Kevin Griffis, a spokesman for Obama's campaign in Virginia, said Norfolk's practice was "completely ridiculous" and had "a chilling effect on voter registration on campuses."
Obama's campaign has been aggressively registering students in Virginia, viewed as a battleground state. Griffis said Obama "is energizing young voters in a way that's not happened in a generation or more."
Of Virginia's 49,000 new registrations in August, 43 percent were age 23 and under, he said.
State law requires registrars to decide eligibility based on two components of residence: place of abode and domicile. Long said the questionnaire had been used to determine domicile and was based on suggested questions from the state elections office. Abode is address.
"The frustration is that the code says you may ask questions to help you make the determination of domicile, yet now we're being told we cannot use a questionnaire," Long said.
"Domicile is a tricky question; we don't consider any one thing," she said. Questions included whether the students pay out-of-state tuition, pay Virginia income taxes or have a Virginia driver's license.
Long said she does not know how a student's residency status now will be determined.
Mary Alana Welch, a 21-year-old student at Old Dominion University, received one of the questionnaires.
"It was a big deterrent," she said. "It gave me the impression I wasn't supposed to be registering here."
She said she never returned it and is still figuring out how to change her registration from Northern Virginia to Norfolk.
To cast her first vote, she wants to go to the polls instead of sending in an absentee ballot.
Long and the Norfolk Electoral Board are urging that the General Assembly clarify the student voter registration policy.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia agrees.
"College students are in a unique situation.... They live in two places," the organization's executive director, Kent Willis, said. "The state law does not address that properly."
"If homeless people have the right to vote by choosing their principal residence, college students ought to have the same right."
Long said she's now reviewing an application from a student from Savannah, Ga., who pays out-of-state tuition, is declared as a dependent in Georgia and has a Georgia driver's license and car registration.
"What automatically makes these out-of-state students Virginians?" she asked.
The Norfolk Electoral Board statement reads: "Although the revised policy guidelines places the burden of proof of residence with the person asserting it, the policy allows students to claim residence in Virginia unchallenged."
Firestorm s erupted in a few other Virginia college towns this month - including Blacksburg with Virginia Tech - over college student registrations, particularly those of out-of-state students.
Registrars in two other local cities with colleges - Virginia Beach and Williamsburg - said they do not use questionnaires. Newport News officials could not be reached.
Pilot writer Lauren King contributed to this report.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
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Even
the ultra right wing, pro NRA, Supreme Court, appointed in recent times, has said there are & should be restrictions on gun ownership. Try reading their recent opinions on the subject. If, as some of you insist, the 2ND Amendment grants unimpeded gun ownership, to all, then you are insisting that convicted murderers have that right. Conviction on a felony crime charge doesn't take away one's citizenship. At the time the amendment was added, gun ownership, was limited to Whites. People of color, in the USA, at that time weren't included as human, so your 2ND Amendment & the rest of the so-called "Bill of Rights", wasn't legitimate. Free Blacks, Native Americans & certain Asian & European American descendants of immigrants, basically had no rights.
Sorry!
My apologies for getting off topic.
CS
You're waisting your time. It's obvious that since twomiler2 was a former LEO, you, I, and any other civilian have the common sense of an ice cube and we are not smart enough to know what is best for us. Twomiler2 helped James Madison draft the U. S. Constitution in 1787 and only he knows what the founders meant when The Bill of Rights and The Second Amendment was put into The U. S. Constitution. He also has a sister (I think) that is a federal judge. So there is a double whammy.
He also doesn't remember that The 13 Original Colonies were 13 separate sovereign works in progress and the federal government was an agent to the several states. But that's not important.
actually
The US Supreme Court disagrees with you and decided the 2nd Amendment affirms an individual right to arms. I guess the Justices don't have the same "full understanding" of Constitutional law you do.
Actually
I happen to be 1 of those persons fully understanding the limitations of the 2ND Amendment. The right to own & bear arms, was necessary to have a well-regulated militia. At that stage of the USA, the professional military was pretty rag-tag. Leaders also feared possible juntas by a professional army. These matters are no longer of concern. The National Guard has taken the place of militias for states & the federal military forces take care of the national & international scence. The "Right to Bear Arms" is restricted. Using the logic of some, it wouldn't be illegal for convicted murderers to buy guns. We have "Freedom of Speech" yet can't yell "fire", in a crowded theater, or "bomb", in an airport.
The Constitution isn't a static document. If It were, there would be no Amendments.
ironic
twomiler, aren't you the same person who wants to impose local limits on the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which, as you say, supersedes local and State law?
This
is legal, federal law people. Norfolk has no choice but to follow the law. Federal law supersedes local & state law. Stop whining.
Balley Again: RE: Voting in Two States is Not Illegal! "WRONG"
Balley, are you sure you are a College Student???? I learned in grade school each citizen has "ONE and only One vote!!! Where did you get the idea you could vote twice???? No wonder Norfolk needs a questionaire to keep you people straight!!!!
balley
First of all, this site can censor anyone it chooses. The Pilot owns it and operates it and therefore decides who and who won't be published. Just as you are the student editor of the ODU newspaper, you too have that choice. IF you are concerned about censorship, then I suggest you start your own website or opinion column and you can do as you please.
re: What are the guidelines for censorship on this forum?
There are several links to the guidelines of posting including the need to have your post approved if you are new to this blog. Additionally, your right to free speech is taken away the minute you enter a private place. When you are here, you are [in essence], in The Pilot's home. The Pilot can "censor" your speech just as I or anyone whose private residence you enter.
What else
What else would you expect from the city of Norfolk government. I wonder if the checked with Williams before they did this?
Then why is it so dificult
Then why is it so dificult to answer a few simple questions when you have these college students taking classes such as biology, physics, mathematics, and science. They are willing to go through the red tape to take these courses and can't follow simple instructions on where they live? Give me a break. They don't even have to prove who they are to vote in Virginia. All they need is a water bill from the off campus apartment.
What are the guidelines for censorship on this forum?
I posted earlier today and my message was not accepted. I am curious as to what the guidelines are for censorship? I am a member of the student government at ODU and I am editor for the student newspaper and I guarantee I will address this Monday with my fellow class leaders.
Our voices will be heard and it is wrong for this site to censor messages regarding an out-of-state students right to vote. I live here during the school semester, I pay Virginia taxes, thus I have the right to vote no matter what even if I head back to my home state and vote there - and I will vote in November!
Get the word out ODU! They cannot take away our right to vote!
Stop
boo-hooing over a smart, legal move. The US Supreme Court decided in 1979 that college students could vote in the areas in which they lived while attending school. This decision was affirmed in 2004.
Amazing
Just another in-your-face example of how the left is ramming Obama down our throats.
The Office of President is not a door prize, yet millions of gullible Americans seem more than happy to suspend all logic by supporting this panderer.
The promise of free money should not be incentive to vote for a candidate. If elected to office, Obama will reverse everything he has preached. Then it will be we the people who will be crying for our reparations.
Mary
well put! I agree!
Voting in two states is not illegal
I signed up on Campus at ODU and they said we can vote even if we can out of state as long as we have the paperwork. My parents live in South Carolina and I am registered there but I work here during the school semester and pay taxes so I am allowed to vote. I have my ODU id card and my address here and that is all that is required. You are all just trying to stop the people from their right to vote and that is not good. Obama knows what is legal and it is NOT illegal to vote in Virginia if we are students here.
Voting in Virginia is Easy
I am a college student in Virginia. I am registered to vote in two states. I own a house out of state, I rent in Virginia, and I have drivers licenses from both states because I got them when I was in the military it was permitted, all I had to show was my military ID.
I go to school with many foreign students and I know two who are registered to vote, and they are not citizens.
I know Virginia gives out drivers licenses to thousands of illegal immigrants and it is not difficult to obtain the documentation to be able to vote. All you need is a picture ID and a made-up social security number and a valid address. When they do their checking all they check is to see if the person lives at the address, and you can do that with your cable or electric bill. They don't check for anything else.
I know the system cannot be fixed too, and honestly I don't want it to. After 8 years of Bush we need change and a voice to represent those who are oppressed.
Voting in Virginia is Easy
I am a college student in Virginia. I am registered to vote in two states. I own a house out of state, I rent in Virginia, and I have drivers licenses from both states because I got them when I was in the military it was permitted, all I had to show was my military ID.
I go to school with many foreign students and I know two who are registered to vote, and they are not citizens.
I know Virginia gives out drivers licenses to thousands of illegal immigrants and it is not difficult to obtain the documentation to be able to vote. All you need is a picture ID and a made-up social security number and a valid address. When they do their checking all they check is to see if the person lives at the address, and you can do that with your cable or electric bill. They don't check for anything else.
I know the system cannot be fixed too, and honestly I don't want it to. After 8 years of Bush we need change and a voice to represent those who are oppressed.
A long tradition
Local governments have traditionally tried to disenfranchise student voters because they see them as transient. If you agree with most posters here any military personnel in the area should also be denied the right to vote locally since they're not long term residents.
Its basically a matter of people like YepItsMe fearing young motivated, educated people wanting to get involved & possibly overturning their status quo.
If a person is responsible enough to want to vote, that's more than most Ameicans - let them. Stop fearing your democratic process.