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Published: October 8, 2008
Liberty University submitted more than 4,200 completed voter registration forms to the Lynchburg City Registrar on Monday, the deadline to register to vote in November’s election.
“We were pleased with the final tally,” Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said Wednesday. Including an estimated 2,000 students who already were registered to vote locally, “that puts us in that 50- to 75-percent range that I was hoping for (out of Liberty’s potentially eligible 10,500 students).”
Last month, Falwell made an unprecedented call for students to vote locally, and announced that the school would cancel most classes on Election Day and provide bus transportation to the polls.
Larry Provost, director of commuter affairs, said that about two-thirds of the applications came from students living in dormitories who would vote at the Heritage Elementary School precinct. The remaining applications were from students who live off campus.
Before the Liberty surge, the Heritage Elementary precinct had about 1,900 registered voters, said Lynchburg voter Registrar Patricia Bower.
As of Wednesday morning, the Heritage number stood at 4,663, and counting.
“I think we can say at least 95 percent of that is Liberty-related,” Bower said.
Bower described the pile of Liberty applications as “several inches” high and said it probably would take the rest of the week to enter them in the computer system.
“That’s probably close,” Bower said of Liberty’s count of 4,200 applications.
“I don’t know how many we still have” to process, she said.
Several applications came in Monday afternoon just before the deadline for registering, and other applications came in Tuesday’s mail with postmarks from the day before, she said.
Bower said there was no way to separate the off-campus student applications from the ones generated by other voter-registration drives in Lynchburg.
Bower said those signups, conducted by door-to-door canvassers and at public gatherings, helped shorten the last-minute registration line at her office Monday. “It wasn’t long and out the door like we had in 2004” for the presidential election, she said.
Bower said that four to five volunteers plus three staff members were working with the applications.
One of those staffers was handling the task of calling and coordinating volunteers, some of whom were Liberty students, Bower said.
The majority of Liberty’s applicants were first-time voters, Provost said.
Liberty gained national media attention after Falwell’s announcement last month that it would distribute voter registration forms by the thousands in dorms and classrooms.
“That was amazing,” he said. “We had a TV crew from France, one from Norway in convocation Monday; we did an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Monday.”
He said the school plans to continue to push students to vote locally in future elections.
“If there are other colleges that have been doing this, they just haven’t gotten the attention,” he said. “It probably will catch on in the future.”
Reader Reactions
I’m sorry- when did helping someone to register and offering them a ride to the voting booth equal a vote for a particular candidate? As I recall, no one held a gun to my head when I voted, and it was in fact a private selection process. These broad brush generalizations seem like foolish babble, not thoughtful comments based on what freedom to vote is all about. A freedom we should not take lightly, by the way.
The major issue with the registration of an enormous number of college students to vote is ethical. Is it ethical for people who are transient to vote in local politics, thereby majorly impacting an entire locality despite the fact that the vast majority will not live long term in the locality.
Sure, it is legal. And, the pure numbers overwhelm the local population of people who live and participate long term in the community.
Yup, many folks live in a locality four years or less, not just college students. Intention, in my opinion, is the key.
What is the intention of those registering to vote from LU, those students who are transient? Some will remain in Lynchburg; I bet the large majority will migrate away. The great concern is that their intention will be to vote for candidates who support the growth of LU and for very conservative principles and then leave without having to deal with or participate in any long term consequences. Vote and run. This would be the case in any college or university and is probably more so given the problematic relationship between the plans of the Falwells and the city for some time. I still remember Jerry Falwell’s remarks about Rachel Flynn regarding the city’s billboard ordinance, his calling her “communist.“ Good relationships this does not make.
In terms of national politics or even statewide politics, the votes all wash out. In more local elections, the transient voters can make huge impacts not always in the best interests nor desires of the long term population.
Legal? Yes. Ethical? Questionable. My biggest concern is older adults potentially taking advantage of relatively impressionable and inexperienced young adults to advance their own agendas. Any of us who remember our younger days know the hazards of inexperience.
bigjim says: “If they do not then this great place to live will be a thing of the past and the future will be all Falwell, all the time.“
That, unfortunately, has already happened—thanks to the Falwell$ (not the $ sign in place of the “s”)...that’s for a reason, yall…
To me they are Money hungry, self-serving dictators. Ruined the country side & continue to do so. Oh! But they provided soooo much to L-burg!!.....the biggest & best “contribution” is the Destruction of Candlers Mountain and its (God’s) inhabitants.
I can’t wait to see Circus Boy’s face when Obama wins, despite his Hitler efforts to have his Jim Jones flock do his bidding…....
This is just a wakeup call or perhaps the first wakeup call.
It’s time for the tax paying citizens to get moving and counter these outsiders and their power and money hungry controllers.
If they do not then this great place to live will be a thing of the past and the future will be all Falwell, all the time.
It is one thing for college students to vote. (I marched for 18 year olds to have the right to vote when Lyndon Johnson was president.) It is quite another for a university to attempt to take over its host city.
Lynchburg should immediately move forward to eliminate at large seats on City Council and let every ward have two council members. That way, LU could control only one ward and the citizens will retain control of our city.
Liberty’s growth projections ... School holidays on election days ... Free organized transportation to the polls?
Valentine is toast, the Republicans could easily beat her with almost anyone. Even Robert Garber would win in a walk. I would be very surprised if she sought re-election. She was rejected by the entire regional caucus anyway.
The city has been run by Ward I with an assist from a pliant Ward II. Now those two Wards will be dis-enfranchised as Wards III and IV will decide matters for the foreseeable future. How long will Gillete stick around when no one listens to his repetitous and frenetic rants?
Say hello to Mayor Garrett unless he would rather be Delegate Garrett. There could easily be a Mayor Falwell in Lynchburg’s future.
If you watch the City Council meetings, with one of the at-large seats voting different ways, the split is 4 1/2 to 2 1/2.
Jeff would win Ward III without LU voters( as evidenced by his defeat of Nat Marshall, a good man this past May). Now Taking on Del. Valentine is a whole other issue. As far as council goes these kids will be in the middle of exams and graduation. Some will even be gone when council elections take place.There is a 4/3 split on council as it is, how much more balanced can it get? Oh, you don’t mean balanced, do you? You mean “voting YOUR way” all the time.
You’re right, Grandma. Maybe Jeff Helgeson will run against Shannon Valentine for Lynchburg’s delegate seat. I bet with these new voters, he could give her a run for her money.
It pleases me that these students are motivated enough to vote for the first time. Too many graduate from college and then it takes years before they become involved. As to voting in local elections, maybe we’ll now have a better balanced City Council and get away from the “tax and spend” mentality we now have, i.e. Real Estate tax hikes, Bluffwalk, traffic circles, etc….
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