1,000 Republican Students Denied Right to Vote

Generation GOP - Arkansas ^ | Oct. 22, 2002

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

1,000 Republican Students Denied Right to Vote

Posted Tuesday, October 22, 2002 | Email a Comment

Student Voter Rights Denied By Clark County Judge
Democrats to Blame for Disenfranchisement of Registered Voters

Arkadelphia, AR In what is perhaps one of the most egregious acts of voter disenfranchisement in Arkansas history, Judge John A. Thomas a Clark County circuit judge today issued a decision to prohibit registered students from voting who attend Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University. The decision comes after a complaint was filed by Floyd Thomas Curry, an Arkadelphia resident and the son of a local Democratic candidate.

"We are absolutely outraged by this decision that will leave hundreds of students without a place to vote and without a voice," said Bryant F. Adams, political director of Generation GOP and a leader in the Ouachita Baptist College Republican organization. "This will not stand - the students and the state will not let this stand."

Students at Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University along with Generation GOP registered over 1,000 new students to vote, the majority of whom were Republican and supported Party candidates. Unofficial polls at Ouachita Baptist University suggest that the student body of over 3,000 students is more than 80% Republican in leaning.

"This injunction against students was a calculated move to keep Republican youth from voting," said R. Stuart Jones, chairman of Generation GOP. "It is extremely important to get young people interested in voting and in the electoral process - denying them their right to vote is not a proper introduction to democracy."

Generation GOP is working with several allied organizations including the College Republicans, Teenage Republicans and Young Republicans to organize a rally against the disenfranchisement of legal voters at Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University.

 

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

I found this peppy site through an NRO ad link. The young folks in Arkansas are fighting back. Young Freepers?

Please ping your fellow Arkansas freepers.

Hello from DNC fraud central - Florida - home of the 'soon to be re-elected' honorable Gov. Jeb Bush. (^:

[r9etb]

Many times people have been denied the right to vote because they were military and dependants. Even though they were also taxpayers of the states where they were stationed. This is along the same line I believe.

Military people can be legal residents of one state; and live, work, and pay taxes in another. They have to vote in their state of declared legal residence.

[sharktrager]

If you are a student you do not have to legally reside at home to be a dependant.

Heck, the non-custodial parent can claim a child as a dependant, while living in another state, if both parents agree that he or she provides more than 50% of the child's support.

[copycat]

If they weren't legal residents of AR, then they can't be legally resistered there. If that's the case then perhaps the suit brought by the Dims has some merit. (As much as it pains me to say so.)

This argument should be brought in Wisconsin, where students vote over and over...

[Inspectorette]

Well, here on the Left Coast, students are not only allowed, but are encouraged to vote, even though they're from other states.

That's a big bone of contention all over California, and very much so here in Santa Barbara County. During the last election, thee Dem County Clerk-Recorder actually set up voter registration booths on the campus at UCSB, and had concerts by Jackson Browne, David Crosby, and various other assorted left-wingers.

Makes me ill.

[SwinneySwitch]

What happened to "Every Vote Should Count?"

[JimRed]

This ruling is because the kids are registered to vote at their home, and can't vote where they go to school.

That was my guess too. Maybe they didn't apply for absentee ballots. Shame on them if that is the case, or on the rest of us of us for not reminding them.

[JoeMomma]

The students aren't legal residents of Arkansas. They were illegally registered.

Republicans should have no part in illegal activities.

The judges ruling has merit.

[william clark]

Although some good points are being made by various posters regarding residency status and so forth, the tone of the article suggests that this standard is not applied at other schools. That would certainly make it discriminatory and newsworthy.

[rwfromkansas]

I am at college and will be filling out an advanced voting ballot. It is absolutely outrageous that this judge is trying to disanfranchise the young.

This should be spread far and wide.......e-mail this to all the young Republicans you know.

[Otta B Sleepin]

It's a given that this never would have come to light if the students were Democrats.

That said, if the situation were reversed, what would our reaction be?

[JoeMomma]

The students were allowed to vote in the 2000 election, serve jury duty, and were included in the cencus.

You mean they voted illegally? Double shame on them.

Let's stop defending people who break the law in the name of Republican politics. We would blast Dems for doing the same. Let's hold a consistent standard.

The dependent students are legal residents of the counties their parents reside.

No amount of spin or "justification" or "The Dems do it" will change the fact that they were breaking the law.

Republicans never have defended lawbreakers' actions. Let's not start now.

[deport]

Ark. Gov. Challenges Judge's Ruling By KELLY P. KISSEL
Associated Press Writer

October 24, 2002, 11:52 AM EDT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A judge has ruled that out-of-town college students cannot vote in his county on Election Day, and Gov. Mike Huckabee has offered his daughter as a plaintiff to challenge the ruling.

Circuit Judge John Thomas ruled Tuesday that students who live on campus remain residents of their hometowns. He directed election officials to void ballots for those who give a university address.

The ruling affects 912 students at Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University, both in Arkadelphia.

Sarah Huckabee, a student at Ouachita Baptist, is among those barred from casting a ballot in Clark County, 60 miles southwest of Little Rock. Her father is running for re-election; her mother, Janet, is running for secretary of state.

The governor said that denying his daughter a chance to vote is wrong.

"She voted in the 2000 election. She was called for jury duty and served faithfully. Her two parents are on the ballot," Huckabee said Wednesday.

A lawsuit challenging the ruling was expected to be brought as early as Thursday.

The judge ruled in a case brought by the son of a justice of the peace candidate. The candidate is facing a challenge from a Ouachita Baptist graduate.

"In the last few days of voter registration, we're hearing stories of just hundreds of students registering. It became clear that my right to vote was just going down the drain," said the candidate's son, Floyd Curry. "Even if these students voted the way I do, it's still diluting my vote."

Secretary of State Sharon Priest, the state's chief elections officer, said students should register in their parents' county if they intend to return to their hometown after college, and register in their college town if they have left home for good.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-arkansas-voting1024oct24,0,3651893.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Those Arkansas students do have spunk.

During election 2000, Jerry Falwell estimated that 600 - 800 Florida students at his (Va.) Liberty University never received their absentee ballots in spite of repeated requests.

Most of us didn't document and save the evidence of the massive Dem. fraud during election 2000, eager to move on. There may be some understandable, knee-jerk reactions this election year. I will say that the false accusations leveled at us by "outraged" Dems. still stings here in Fla., but I'd rather "each and every complaint" was aired and then judged on its merits than the GOP remain silent out of a reluctance to appear meanspirited or wrong.

[Wait4Truth]

Bump! Is there anything we can do here?

[wjcsux]

The reason that CA students are encouraged to vote is simple. Most are from Leftist out of state families who alwats vote RAT anyway. This is a bonus. A Berkeley student can vote RAT in CA and in his home state as well!

[Otta B Sleepin]

All other Arkansas college students are allowed to register and vote where they attend school

I think this is the point that should be stressed.

[JoeMomma]

I am at college and will be filling out an advanced voting ballot. It is absolutely outrageous that this judge is trying to disanfranchise the young

They are not "disenfranchising" the young. They are upholding law regarding residency and registering to vote. Dependent students are legal residents of the state where their supportive parents/guardians.

Students should vote absentee ballots for the county in which they are legal residents. Period. End of discussion.

Dependent college students are not legal residents of the couty in which they go to college unless their parents happen live in that county. They have no right to vote in a county in which they are not a resident.

Quit defending lawbreakers. We're not Dems!