Elections board has no answers for students

The Virginia State Board of Elections is trying to clarify guidelines for local voter registrars as advocacy groups voice concerns about obstacles for students who want to register to vote in their college towns.

The board recently sent a message to registrars, saying state guidelines for registration for students do not address how changes in registration could affect matters such as taxes, financial aid and health insurance — so registrars should not raise the issues.

“The state board does not train its staff, registrars or electoral board members in other areas of the law. Trying to educate applicants about these other areas — even with the best of intentions — opens registrars to potential liability and claims of intimidation,“ it reads.

The clarification was prompted in part by a news release issued by E. Randall Wertz, voter registrar in Montgomery County, which is home to Virginia Tech.

Election officials in Montgomery raised temperatures when they issued a news release in late August saying college students who register to vote there cannot be claimed as dependents on their parents’ income-tax returns — a statement that the Internal Revenue Service says is incorrect, according to The New York Times.

The Montgomery release also said college students who register to vote there could risk losing residence-based scholarships.

After the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia complained about the news release, calling it untrue and “sort of an intimidation tactic to discourage students from voting in local elections,“ the Montgomery County registrar issued a revised statement, to say his office is prohibited from offering advice on student benefits.

The ACLU then sent a letter to 32 registrars in areas where college students are likely to live, urging the officials to let students register to vote where they attend school.

According to the Associated Press, Wertz has said there was no nefarious intent and that his office was trying to provide students with helpful information.

Voter registrars “are trying to do the best they can with some rather confusing law,“ said Barbara Cockrell, director of operations for the State Board of Elections.

Kevin Griffis, a spokesman for Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign in Virginia, said some registrars have held on to inaccurate readings of the law.

“We do feel like the state has made significant strides toward clarifying for college students what their rights are, specifically that a dormitory address is a perfectly acceptable residence, but there are still a few registrars out there who, despite the board of elections guidelines, have decided to act contrary to that advice,“ he said.

Gerry Scimeca, communications director for the Republican Party of Virginia, said he has not been contacted about any problems with college students registering.

“We would certainly take it seriously if we do get calls along those lines,“ he said.

The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 4 election is Oct. 6, and the voter rolls are swelling under heavy get-out-the-vote efforts in Virginia, a battleground state in the presidential election. Democrats are making a play for the state, which has not backed a Democrat for president since 1964, and they see young voters among the groups that could make the difference.

Several groups monitoring voting rights, including the Fair Elections Legal Network and the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, have taken issue with aspects of Virginia’s registration system.

The Brennan Center cites the state’s voting residency questionnaire that asks a series of questions designed to help students determine residency.

While it appears intended to help students determine their place of legal residence, “we believe that the questionnaire actually may confuse, mislead, and intimidate student voters,“ it said in a letter to Nancy Rodrigues, secretary of the State Board of Elections.

The Brennan Center recommends that the state modify the questionnaire or remove it from the board’s Web site.

Cockrell said the questionnaire is meant to help students.

“What it is, is in the eye of the beholder,“ she said. “If registrars and voters alike approach it with the view that both have an honest question about where I should be registered to vote, then the questionnaire becomes an honest and appropriate tool.“

J. Kirk Showalter, voter registrar for the city of Richmond, said she can’t question the residency of all students, so she does it for none unless discrepancies show up.

Students from Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Richmond and Virginia Union University all could call Richmond home for nine months of the year. It’s easier for registrars working in smaller college towns where most students live in dorms to know which voters are students and offer assistance.

“My students are more urban, they’re kind of interwoven into the fabric of the city. In those localities where you can easily identify the students, then you can do things like send questionnaires to help clarify if they are a resident of the state or not,“ she said.

“It’s not that we don’t want the students to vote,“ she said. “We want them to vote in the correct place.“

Olympia Meola is a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.