Posted on 10/25/2002 6:17:03 PM PDT by generationgop
Students Rally to Protect Voting Rights Posted Friday, October 25, 2002 | Email a Comment
Hundreds of Students Rally Against Judges Decision Demand to Be Heard and Given Opportunity to Vote
Little Rock, AR Hundreds of students rallied on the steps of the courthouse in Arkadelphia and Little Rock to protest the decision rendered by circuit judge John A. Thomas. The students suggested that perhaps the decision and the filing of the writ of mandamus precipitated from partisan politics and Democratic operatives.
Floyd Thomas Curry, an Arkadelphia area attorney who is also the son of a Democratic candidate for JP district one who faces a Republican challenger, filed the writ of mandamus.
“Hundreds of college students were registering to vote and something had to be done,” Mr. Curry stated in a media interview. Mr. Curry denied that there was any political motive to his actions.
“The students are very upset and for good reason,” said R. Stuart Jones, chairman of Generation GOP. “This is no way to introduce students to the election process. Mr. Curry’s agenda is purely political and surely partisan.”
Mr. Curry and the Democratic Party of Arkansas were unavailable for comment.
The rally began in Arkadelphia and then moved to Little Rock where organizers assembled in front of the Democratic Party of Arkansas headquarters at 1300 West Capitol Street.
“We wanted to send a message that we do not appreciate the partisan politics and disenfranchisement that students are facing as a result of people associated with the Democratic Party of Arkansas,” said Bryant F. Adams, political director of Generation GOP. “We will fight to have our voices heard as they should be.”
After gathering in front of the Democratic Party headquarters, the rally then moved to the steps of the Arkansas capitol building where students chanted “Let us vote” to a shock of cameras representing state news stations and newspapers.
Generation GOP has been working for months on the ground to register students and activate them at the Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University campuses. Over 1,000 students are registered to vote in Arkadelphia, many of which are known Republicans.
“This is absolutely unacceptable,” said Jarrod Lee a student at the University of Central Arkansas who fears that the Democrats may target his campus next. “We will be ready for anything, and we have confidence that the our county judge would not want to disenfranchise students as did Judge Thomas in Clark County.”
Generation GOP represents one of the country’s largest Republican youth organizations and is working to help elect candidates on a state and national level.
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As we say at our rallies, "Let us vote."
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