Constitutional Law

Virginia County's Statements On Student Voting Rights Draws Concern

A Virginia County registrar is drawing concern for disseminating information supposedly aimed at helping college students prepare to vote. The Montgomery County registrar issued two documents suggesting that college students who register to vote in Virginia could jeopardize their scholarships, health insurance and tax status, reported the RK Blog. The first document released in late August says, “If you have a scholarship attached to your former residence, you could lose this funding. And, if you change your registration to Montgomery County, Virginia Code requires you to change your driver’s license and car registration your present address within 30 days.” A second release issued days later said students should consider whether there “health, automobile or other insurance coverage could be affected” by registering to vote in Montgomery County.

Sujatha Jahagirdar, with the Student Public Interest Research Group’s New Voters Project, told Inside Higher Ed that, “For a county registrar to issue what really are in our experience unsubstantiated warnings for a particular demographic is alarming. It’s upsetting that this is coming up in Virginia. But it’s even more upsetting that the ability of young people to vote is questioned in many other states too.”

The American Constitution Society has launched a Web page that provides educational information on students’ voting rights. The Web site, Resources on Student Voting, offers access to voting guides and other resources.  

Full post as published by ACS Blog on September 05, 2008 (boomark / email).