North Carolina election officials chipping away at student vote
Mon Aug 19, 2013 at 10:42 AM PDT by Meteor Blades The objective of the new voting laws in North Carolina are clear. They are designed to place obstacles in the path of citizens who traditionally vote Democratic—African Americans, students, the poor—to slice a percentage of them off the final tallies. Unlike their predecessors who did all in their considerable power under Jim Crow to keep nearly everyone in a certain category from voting, the latter-day suppressors know that, in many election contests, knocking off a few percentage points is all that is needed for victory.
College students are one of the targets for this assault on voting rights. Efforts to curb student voting started in 1971 when 18-year-olds first got the right to vote and has continued ever since even though, for 34 years, students have, thanks to the federal appeals court decision in Symm v. U.S. [ http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/439/1105/case.html ] had the right to vote in the communities where they attend school. North Carolina isn't alone among the states that have played various the angles to get around this. Among the methods has been the official spread of false information and scare tactics to keep students from the polls.
Under the new state law passed in the wake of the Supreme Court's gutting of a key portion of the Voting Rights Act, officials in North Carolina are now moving to undermine the student vote. You can bet that other states are watching to see how this goes.
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For instance, the Watauga County election board has decided to eliminate an election precinct and early voting site on the campus of Appalachian State University. The board in Pasquotank County has nixed a student at Elizabeth City State University from running for city council. The argument: The student's on-campus address means he is not a legal resident and thus cannot seek public office. And then there's this: [ http://www.journalnow.com/news/elections/local/article_3da9300a-07a2-11e3-b6b3-001a4bcf6878.html#.UhEgF9Wm5NA.twitter ]
Bob Hall, the executive director of the elections watchdog group Democracy N.C., agrees that it would be improper if a professor promised to give credit to students for voting but not for writing an essay about their voting experience or whether students (or anyone) should bother voting. But the alleged talk about getting credit has not been confirmed and Republicans have sought to close down the Anderson Center site ever since it opened in 2008.
Hall said, “I think it is unfortunate and disappointing that there is a pattern of looking at colleges, and black colleges, that the Republican leadership is targeting certain groups.”
The Winston-Salem Journal quoted Susan Campbell, the chairwoman of the Forsyth County Democratic Party, as mocking the Republican effort. “It is shocking. And it’s done with such arrogance—now we’re in charge—we’re going to put up barriers.” She said that if the site is eliminated, the party will make every effort to ensure that students get a chance to register and vote elsewhere in the county.
Democratic North Carolina State Senator Resigns From Office To Help People Get Voter ID
By: Jason EasleyAug. 19th, 2013
Many Democrats talk about fighting back against voter suppression, but North Carolina state senator Ellie Kinnaird resigned from office today in order to work on a grassroots project to help people obtain voter IDs.
In a statement annoucing her resignation, Sen. Kinnaird said:
How many Democrats do you know that would resign from elected office to go help people obtain the proper identification so that they can vote? Sen. Kinnaird is standing up for what is really important. She could have stayed in office and continued to collect her salary, but she realized that she could make more of a difference on the ground by helping people get the proper identification.
Sen. Kinnaird is an example of why the Republican movement to suppress the vote is destined to fail. People will fight to make sure that their voices are heard. They will stand up in opposition to disenfranchisement. Instead of keeping voters at home, Republican voter ID laws motivate people to do what they have to do in order to vote. By turning voting into an act of defiance, Republicans are helping the movement to defeat them grow. Which each movement to suppress the vote, Republicans are placing another shovelful of dirt on their political graves.