[Sly Fox]

This has been referenced in a zillion blogs the past few days. Here is an update from the fishwrap ...

Liberty voter drive nets 2,500 registrations

By Christa Desrets
Published: September 17, 2008

In its first few days of encouraging students to register to vote locally, Liberty University has collected more than 2,500 voter registration forms.

“It’s going better than expected, and we’re going to continue to push it hard,” Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said Wednesday.

Last week, Falwell announced an unprecedented voter registration initiative that included handing out registration forms by the thousands to students in classrooms and dorms.

Tuesday night, resident advisers distributed forms to the school’s more than 6,000 on-campus students at dorm hall meetings.

So far, 1,700 of those students have turned in paperwork to the school to vote locally, Falwell said. The school will forward the forms to the city registrar.

Click Here for Full Story

[Fumblerooskies]

Yes...
...and faculty are handing out forms to the commuter students. This certainly could make a great impact, particularly with local races.

[Rooster Cogburn]

This is the way to Flex some muscle. Dr. Falwell would have absolutely loved this. JJ is certainly carrying on the tradition!

[RagingTireFire]

This certainly could make a great impact, particularly when these kids and their parents try to file their taxes.

Fixed that.

[PAmedic]

so when does the first legal challenge get filed by some redneck townie?

[Schfourteenteen]

This certainly could make a great impact, particularly when these kids and their parents try to file their taxes.

Fixed that.

The ACLU has said they would fight any issues derived from voting here, including taxes

[PastorZack]

Keep some of the PA kids registered in PA. Just get them absentee ballots...we need them up here in PA too

[JDUB]

just got an email pushing it, and they have been pushing it in convo too. its a good idea because most students probably wouldn't go through the trouble of an absentee ballot, so getting them to vote here is smart. I still haven't decided where to vote yet b/c I am trying to figure out the tax end of things, but I am hearing that it shouldn't effect that at all. I have an absentee ballot request in NC though if I do decide to vote there. I am leaning that way because there are some close races for congress, but it would be more convenient to vote here.

[qkslvrsrfrboy]

What exactly would it do to my taxes to register here?

I live in Illinois. I highly doubt my one vote would make a difference against Obama.

[RagingTireFire]

Since you have to establish residency in a locale to vote there, registering to vote in another state is pretty much the legal equivalent of moving there. If you are still considered a dependent of your parents for IRS purposes, it will screw up their tax returns and yours. Furthermore, since financial aid is almost always based around tax returns, you can expect another red tape battle on your hands there.

[JDUB]

Since you have to establish residency in a locale to vote there, registering to vote in another state is pretty much the legal equivalent of moving there. If you are still considered a dependent of your parents for IRS purposes, it will screw up their tax returns and yours. Furthermore, since financial aid is almost always based around tax returns, you can expect another red tape battle on your hands there.

are you a lawyer? because according to Jerry Jr that is not the case

[RagingTireFire]

Since you have to establish residency in a locale to vote there, registering to vote in another state is pretty much the legal equivalent of moving there. If you are still considered a dependent of your parents for IRS purposes, it will screw up their tax returns and yours. Furthermore, since financial aid is almost always based around tax returns, you can expect another red tape battle on your hands there.

are you a lawyer? because according to Jerry Jr that is not the case

3

I'm a guy who had three roommates' -- yeah, we were 4 to a joint back then -- lives get screwed up when LU made this same sort of push back in the 90's.

[JDUB]

i just am gonna have to believe that the ACLU will win this one, and that Jerry Jr is correct because he has checked into this and said it wouldn't effect the parents tax returns. i am still checking with a buddy that owns a tax business before i register because i want to confirm some things about my personal return, but it shouldn't effect the parents and the dependent thing at all

[RagingTireFire]

It's good to see Liberty folk putting faith in the ACLU. It warms the smoldering ashes of my hewn-off and burnt-out stump of a heart.

[ALUmnus]

Hewn-off.

[blindpilot]

Raging tire fire --- you are 100% wrong about everything you said. Even the State Board of Elections warned their registrars about making similar statements because they are FALSE and could open the registrars to liability. Liberty never registered students in the 90s because it wasn't permitted by the local registrar. You are way off base this time. Are you a democrat or something?

[RagingTireFire]

Oh, yeah. Clearly, I'm a Democrat. Or something.

Since Virginia is the state in question, I'll refer you to the Virginia State Board of Elections website, specifically the page on college students. Pay special attention to the section headlined "Impact on Other Areas".

Legal residence for voter registration purposes may or may not be the same as legal residence for census, driver’s license, federal and state income tax, state vehicle tax, tuition, or financial aid purposes. The State Board of Elections and local election officials are not trained in these complex areas. You should consult appropriate advisors regarding these issues.

As for the 90's, I can only tell you what I remember, much of which was waiting while the other three guys in my dorm room occupied the entire month of January on our one phone trying to get their lives and class schedules straightened back out.

[Sly Fox]

It was a similar scenario back in '88. This is not a new development.

[blindpilot]

Registrars were warned not to give advice and to register any student who files an application because all the bogus warnings about negative impacts in other areas were just that-----bogus. Do a google news search for Montgomery County registrar. That registrar was saying a lot of the same things that you were and he was called on the carpet for spreading falsehoods. Most other states have always allowed dorm students to register because it is required by the US Constitution. Virginia always seems to be the last holdout.

You are right about LU in the 1990s and even the late 80s. Those were definitely not the best years for this school. I'm just glad it's much better now.

Va. Registrar's guidance prompts ACLU complaint
By LARRY O'DELL | Associated Press Writer
September 8, 2008

RICHMOND, Va. - Election officials in the county that is home to Virginia Tech were wrong when they issued a news release saying college students who register to vote there cannot be claimed as dependents on their parents' income tax returns, a civil liberties group said Monday.

The news release came late last month during a voter registration drive at the university conducted by supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The statement said that along with the tax benefit, students could risk losing residence-based scholarships.

"First of all, it's not true," said Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. "Second, it's obviously sort of an intimidation tactic to discourage students from voting in local elections."

[RagingTireFire]

Do a google news search for Montgomery County registrar.

I'll take your word for it. You seem a little more up to date on the specifics of the topic than I am. Also, I can't imagine myself googling "Montgomery County" for any reason.

[Rooster Cogburn]

http://www.wset.com/news/stories/0908/555924.html

Either way, Falwell has sent a copy of ABC-13's story about this to the Virginia chapter of the ACLU.

[flamesbball84]

if you can vote in an area, you should have to pay more than just sales taxes in the area. rather you actually HAVE to or not is a different story, but I think they should have to.

[SuperJon]

if you can vote in an area, you should have to pay more than just sales taxes in the area. rather you actually HAVE to or not is a different story, but I think they should have to.

Why? It's just like a resident in VA living here and renting a place instead of owning one. The only taxes they pay locally are sales tax.

If you add in the vacations that a lot of people are taking, the out of town business a lot of people do, and things like that, the college kids are here just as much as someone who lives here "permanently."

[JDUB]

if they count LU students in the population, which they do, then they are considering them residents and therefore they can vote

[newandimproved]

if you can vote in an area, you should have to pay more than just sales taxes in the area. rather you actually HAVE to or not is a different story, but I think they should have to.

by this logic then I guess I should not be able to vote. I am no longer a student and I work in the area, but I do not pay any texes to the city except for sales tax. I guess I should give up my right to vote then.