Virginia Students at Risk for Disenfranchisement

by Carlean Ponder

An article by Tamar Lewin in Monday’s New York Times highlighted questionable guidelines on the Virginia State Board of Elections’ website relating to students registering to vote.

Lewin’s article states that:

In Virginia, the county registrar first issued an alarming release on Aug. 25, and two days later a slightly toned-down version using language taken directly from the state Board of Elections’ Web site.

That site says students can determine their legal residence, but advises them to consider certain questions. "Are you claimed as a dependent on your parents’ income tax return?" the site asks. "If you are, then their address is probably your legal residence."

The site also tells students to check whether their coverage under their parents’ health or automobile insurance, or their scholarship, will be affected by changing their residence.

Election Protection’s Jon Greenbaum was quoted as saying "What the state Board of Elections has on its Web site, to me, sounds like it is discouraging students from registering at their school address."

This issue is of particular concern to the National Campaign for Fair Elections. As a highly mobile demographic, students are at risk for disenfranchisement. All too often, states try to restrict students’ ability to vote at their campus address or by absentee ballot when away at school. We are currently working with student voter registration groups in states and on campuses across the country to ensure that young people have the right to vote.

Click here for more information about NCFFE’s work to protect student voters.