OCTOBER 11 /97;
THE TWIG
PAGE 3
STUDENTS’ mCHTS Absentee Vote Will Count
ARE BEINC HEARD!
One year ago, when the Cal
ifornia Supreme Court hand
ed down the first legal de
cision releasing students from
the “residential apron
strings” of their parents, most
students in this country were
just beginning to hear about
“residency requirements.”
At that time — one month af
ter the enactment of the 26th
Amendment — only six other
states permitted students to
decide for themselves where
they wanted to register and
vote. The threat of student
voting power was talked about
by Cambridge and Blooming
ton and Chapel Hill townspeo
ple with a vehemence equal to
discussion of the “busing is
sue” by Wallace voters.
In the months that followed,
students began to understand
what “voting rights” were all
about. They learned about
“special qualifications” and
“discriminatory questioning”
first hand. Faced by hostile
election administrators, stu
dents were submitted to cross
examination and forced to an
swer such questons as:
“Where do you go to church?”,
“Where do you plan to live
five years from now?”,
“Where do you plan to be bur
ied?”. They were intimidated
by election officials who re
quired local registration of
automobiles, local insurance
rates, and state tax receipts.
Election officials falsely in
ferred that by registering on
campus, a student’s auto in
surance rates would increase
and he could no longer be
claimed as a tax deduction
by his parents.
In courtrooms, students
pleaded for the right to choose
their voting residence. They
argued that traveling, perhaps
a thousand miles to vote or
filing an absentee ballot meant
they were singled out for spe
cial treatment. Such “bur
dens” might dissuade young
persons from exercising their
franchise and were inconsist
ent with thepurposeofthe26th
Amendment.
In nearly every state, stu
dents won the right to choose
their voting residence and de
cide for themselves where
they wish to vote. Today, only
eight states bar students from
registering on campus. The
question now is whether col
lege students are fully aware
of this newly won right and
whether they will exercise it.
Neal Zimmerman,, a 26-
year-old law student and or
ganizer of the National Move
ment for the Student Vote’s
fall campus registration pro
gram, believes a student
should give thoughtful con
sideration to the question of
voting residency before he re
gisters.
“First, a student must con
sider where he will be on elec
tion day,” advises Zimmer-
mann. “If he is away from
the place where he register
ed, he will save a series of
roadblocks, technicalities and
deadlines called absentee vot
ing. Attempting to vote ab
sentee often involves a tre
mendous risk of being disen
franchised.”
After considering mechan
ical problems involved, a stu
dent should think about where
he wants to vote. “A student
should vote where his in
terests lie,” says Zimmer-
mann. “A voter should vote
where he is most knowledge
able about the issues so he can
cast an intelligent ballot. Us
ually, forcing a student to vote
at his parents’ address is to
impose an uninformed voter
on the parents’ town.”
Students should recognize
that they are as affected by
the outcome of local elec
tions as the people who live
there all year round. Most
students live in their college
town at least nine months a
year, often as many as 12
months. They are subject to
the local and state ordinan
ces.
“The street runs both
ways,”explains Zimmermann.
“College students are a boon
to the local economy through
the money they spend. The
communities receive the ben
efit of property taxes which
college students pay as part
of the rent in off-campus
houses. Students also pay
sales, gas, income and other
taxes in the college commun
ities,”
Many students don’t real
ize that the U.S. Bureau of
Census counts students as
residents of their college
towns for census purposes.
This means that the college
town receives the benefit of
the student’s residency; the
student is counted to the town’s
advantage in its reapportion
ment formula for Congress
and state legislatures and in
its per capita formulas for
state and federal aid.
Zimmermann feels strongly
about the input students can
offer to the political structure
of his college town. “In towns
where students have register
ed, they have proven them
selves to be responsible vot
ers.” A recent decision of
the New Jersey Supreme Court
states; “The energy and ideal
ism of the young is probably
needed even more at the local
level than at the national le
vel.”
Where a student registers
and votes should depend on
where the student wants to
vote. The questions of inter
est in local government, know
ledge of the issues and effects
of local elections on his own
life, as well as ease of voting
must be considered.
“Most probably, these
questions will lead a college
student to vote at his college
residence,” says Zimmer
mann. “Every student has a
duty to himself and his com
munity to thoughtfully consid
er not simply whether he
should vote or how he will
vote, but also where he will
choose to vote.”
Reprinted from a “Student
Vote” publication.
For the average person who
votes in the town where he is
registered, casting a ballot is
as easy as walking down the
street, submitting a name to
an election official, entering
the voting booth and flicking
the appropriate lever. But for
the person who is registered
in his home town and living
somewhere else, voting means
applying for and receiving an
absentee ballot.
Voting absentee is a com
plicated, almost dizzying pro
cedure. It is also risky. The
confusion of deadlines, appli
cation forms, special signa
tures and rigid directions
may even result in a discard
ed ballot.
Sometimes absentee voting
is a necessity. Certainly, if a
student prefers voting from
his home address -- perhaps,
his sympathies lie with a cer
tain candidate running in his
home town or he simply feels
closer ties with the politics
at home — he will choose to
register there. For freshmen
and transfer students, the
choice may not exist. Stu
dents might arrive on campus
too late to meet the thirty
day residency requirement.
For the student who must
vote absentee, there are many
procedures that must be fol
lowed. They all revolve around
one important factor: Time.
In many cases, it will take
as many as three letter ex
changes between a student and
his local clerk to finally se
cure a ballot. It could take as
long as three or four weeks
simply to receive an appli
cation so the absentee voter
must be extremely aware of
deadlines.
In initially requesting an
absentee ballot from the town,
county or city clerk, the voter
should include his name, home
address, the address where
the ballot should be sent and
the reason for necessitating
an absentee ballot.
Deadlines, in either case,
are crucial. The dates vary
considerably from state to
state so a check with the local
clerk of the League of Women
voters is a necessity.
Following directions to the
letter may also make the dif
ference between having a vote
counted or discarded. Non
compliance with directions is
a valid reason for a discount
ed ballot. Again, procedures
differ from state to state. In
some cases It will be neces
sary to have the signature of
a notary public before the bal
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lot can be considered valid.
Notaries are found in most
banks, the court house or the
county clerk’s office.
In sending in a ballot,there
is always a deadline to meet.
It’s best to send the ballot
out immediately, for frequent
ly the ballot must be receiv
ed by a specified date, and
even, hour. Votes have been
lost because a ballot was re
ceived an hour after the de
termined deadline.
The red tape involved in
voting absentee can be dis
couraging, Not only must the
voter remember to vote, he
must also remember dead
lines, directions and special
requirements. Most import
ant, he must not forget to ap
ply for his ballot.
Have you applied for yours?
Apply to your elections board
before November 1.
maybe they gave you
the right to vote
because they thought
you’d never use it.
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