The Next Round of Disenfranchisement: Fight Back

See what these folks are doing?



They’re registering to vote at a Flobots concert we attended back in May.

They’re members of the 18-29 age demographic, a group electoral analysts have said will play a critical role in determining the outcome of the upcoming general election. Even though the youth vote made a big impact on the outcomes of the primaries earlier this year, new obstacles have arisen that might make it harder for some of America’s youth in certain areas of the country to vote in the general election.

On August 25, a county registrar in Virginia claimed that students attending school in the county risk their financial security if their home address is out-of-state and they register to vote in the county. He claimed students who registered to vote in the county under these circumstances could lose the ability to be declared as dependents on their parents’ tax returns, and said this could impact their finances while at college.

Talk about a turn-off to voting. It’s good for the students that the registrar was wrong. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said his statement was incorrect, and a 1979 Supreme Court decision affirmed students’ right to register to vote at their college address.

The county registrar, after questioning by civil rights lawyers, issued a clarification to the August 25 memo in this document and said it did not have a position on if any element of student’s finances would be affected by registering to vote outside their home county.

This is not the only recent story of potential disenfranchisement. Currently, there’s a political storm brewing in Michigan regarding the disenfranchisement of voters whose homes have been foreclosed, and we’ll keep you updated on the legal weather over there.

With the state registration deadlines for the general elections approaching, we must be even more critical of any and all apparent attempts by anyone to in any way disenfranchise voters without due and just cause. It is important for you make sure that you’re still registered to vote and that you have not been removed from registered voter lists. You too should have the chance to impact the course of the nation.

One of the best ways you can take direct action to make sure your voting rights are secure is utilizing our Rock Your Rights page. We’ve partnered with the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and other groups to protect and promote voting rights this year and beyond.

Fight for your right to vote on Election Day.

Say Yes! to Michigan

For many years, Michigan has been home to many great American traditions: Mackinac Island fudge, our auto industry, and musical greats Eminem & Sufjan Stevens, just to name a few. But, as of July 25th, it was also home to a State House of Representatives that passed legislation that would allow Michigan residents to have a voter registration address separate from their permanent address. This change would give transient students in particular the opportunity to register to vote in a city where they attend school without having to change their Michigan place of residence or their driver's license address. If the legislation is passed by the Michigan State Senate, it would repeal Public Act 118, known as Rogers's Law, which was passed in 1999 and requires voters to register to vote with their permanent addresses. State Rep. Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) states that "it's so important to engage young voters as soon as we can," and, if the bill makes it out alive, it will do just that.

Another State Gets It

Across the country, state legislators are amending election law to enfranchise young people and raise young voter turnout. In a bipartisan effort, Michigan State Reps. Bill Caul (R) and Mark Meadows (D) have co-sponsored a bill in the Michigan House of Representatives which would allow 17-year-olds who would be 18 by the time of a general election the chance to vote in a primary. "We found in East Lansing, before we eliminated the primary, that in the general election there were not individuals on the ballot the students had a say in choosing," Meadows said. "This would be a positive first step because it would allow people who could vote in November anyway to vote and make sure they turned out for the November election."