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.

 

[JoeMomma]

I guess each state laws are different. I though they were all the same in that regard. Sorry if I offended anyone here. I thought it was standard law in all states.

If Arkansas lets college students register and declare residency like that, more power to them and more power to the students who were legally registered under Arkansas law. Let's hope they get their rights rightfully returned to them. Both Dems and Repubs are condemning the decision, it appears.

I remember from my college days I was told that I couldn't register in the state I was going to college, and had to vote absentee in my home county.

Thanks for setting me straight. I'm humbled now. :)

[GovernmentShrinker]

The trouble is, different states have different laws about this.

[mvpel]

The Arkansas Code covers voter qualifications:

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7-5-201. Voter qualification.
(a) To be qualified to vote, a person shall have registered at least thirty (30) calendar days immediately prior to the election and in the manner set forth by Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 51. The person shall be eligible to vote only in the county in which he resides on the date thirty-one (31) calendar days prior to the election, unless specifically exempted under § 7-5-406.

(b) "Voting residence" shall be a voter's domicile and shall be governed by the following provisions:

(1) The domicile of a person is that place in which his habitation is fixed and to which, whenever he is absent, he has the intention to return;

(2) A change of domicile is made only by the act of abandonment, joined with the intent to remain in another place. A person can have only one (1) domicile at any given time;

(3) A person does not lose his domicile if he temporarily leaves his home and goes to another country, state, or place in this state with the intent of returning;

(4) The place where a person's family resides is presumed to be his place of domicile, but a person may acquire a separate residence if he takes another abode with the intention of remaining there;

(5) A married person may be considered to have a domicile separate from that of his spouse for the purposes of voting or holding office. For those purposes, domicile is determined as if the person were single; and

(6) Persons who are temporarily living in a particular place because of a temporary work-related assignment or duty post or as a result of their performing duties in connection with their status as military personnel, students, or office holders shall be deemed residents of that place where they established their home prior to beginning such assignments or duties.

(c) No person may be qualified to vote in more than one (1) precinct of any county at any one (1) time.

---

The upshot: In Arkansas, students and military personnel must vote in their home state and county.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Legally, the new registration replaces the old. Actually the old registration remains active, and is apt to be misused, either knowingly by the voter, or unknowingly as the registration is identified and misused by the usual suspects.

[JoeMomma]

Got it. I've been set straight. Thanks.

[alaskanfan]

He's probably claiming they are/should be registered elsewhere, and that they are not "residents" there even though they attend college there.

Of course, this didn't stop the liberal students of Berkely from deciding the fate of the city where they attend school, so why should it here?

Republicans register once.

Democrats register as required to sway election.

[mvpel]

Cricket - see post #63, AR Code §7-5-201(b)(6). Someone forgot to consult a lawyer before engaging in this voter registration drive.

[GovernmentShrinker]

It's more complicated than that. You can be legal resident for tax purposes in more than one state since each state makes it own laws about that (I would know -- I pay resident taxes in NY State and NYC, as well as Pennsylvania). I ought to be able to vote for state and local offices in both places (and I think some states actually DO have a provision for that).

[sweetliberty]

The deadline for getting absentee ballots is October 29. But the way this is sounding is that the students' votes have been disqualified no matter what they do. Otherwise, why would this even be an issue?

[lepton]

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.

This suggests a lack of discrimination between valid registrations and potentially invalid ones.

[lepton]

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.

They are upholding law regarding residency and registering to vote.

You're drawing a conclusion that is unsupported by the broad statement or the judges ruling. Campus addresses may be valid addresses, and valid residences - but this clearly suggests that the Judge made a broad ruling against a class of individuals without regard to the specifics.

[mvpel]

California law reads very similarly to the law of Arkansas. If there are students registered there, we should file our own lawsuit. Here's the California code:

California Elections Code §2025.
A person does not gain or lose a domicile solely by reason of his or her presence or absence from a place while employed in the service of the United States or of this state, nor while engaged in navigation, nor while a student of any institution of learning, nor while kept in an almshouse, asylum or prison. This section shall not be construed to prevent a student at an institution of learning from qualifying as an elector in the locality where he or she domiciles while attending that institution, when in fact the student has abandoned his or her former domicile.

If the student has not "abandoned" the former domicile, they are not qualified to vote in the location where they are attending school in California.

"Abandonment" has a very specific meaning under the law. From LectLaw.com:

ABANDONMENT - The intent and subsequent actions of a tenant that indicate that the tenant has given up the leased premises. Examples include an empty apartment, a return of keys, and utilities turned off.

[sweetliberty]

"Priest said later Tuesday that it’s illegal to be registered to vote in two counties under Arkansas Code 7-1-103 (12)."

Only Republicans! Anyway, I didn't hear any allegations that the students were registered in 2 counties.

[GovernmentShrinker]

We can learn what the applicable state and federal laws are before we start hurling accusations. The Arkansas law is almost certainly as the Secretary of State is quoted as describing it in post #35. Trouble is, this basically boils down to the "honor system" there's no federal system for detecting individuals voting in two places. My feeling is that, sooner or later, conservatives will have to accept some sort of heavy-duty, biometrically based national ID card. I don't see any other way of getting vote fraud under control.

[sweetliberty]

Clearly a double standard. Thanks for posting the articles.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Dependent students are legal residents of the state where their supportive parents/guardians.

Got a source for that? Is that an Arkansas law? A federal law? A law that is coincidentally identical in all 50 states? And this is not just an issue of what STATE they're eligible to vote in, it's a question of what precinct within the state.

[sweetliberty]

Well, there are clearly some people posting on this thread that are not going to listen to facts because they already have their minds made up that these kids are trying a Rat trick.

[Arkinsaw]

I applaud all those here who are saying that the law is the law and we Republicans must live by them and not try to make loopholes as Democrats do. Hear hear and good for you. Makes me proud.

BUT, the law should be applied equally throughout the State and not cherry-picked for primarily religous or conservative schools. Arkansas State University in Jonesboro has said that they expect this ruling to have no effect on them.

So I would urge you not to abandon these kids and write them off. I think they should be supported in an effort to either have the law applied equally to all students in the State of Arkansas or have the law repealed. The law should not be simply a tool for Democratic cherry-picking, it makes the law hard to support and dooms us to honorable defeat. Thanks.