[Sly Fox]

LU students could become potent force in citywide elections

By Ron Brown and Matt Busse
rbown@newsadvance.com. mbusse@newsadvance.com
June 24, 2007

Several weeks before his death, the Rev. Jerry Falwell was determined to close the gap between Lynchburg's Ward III and two other city voting wards by encouraging Liberty University students to register to vote in local elections.

"We have never registered our students," Falwell said in an April interview. "So therefore, we are at the mercy of other wards. We want fair and equal representation. We want Ward III to have equal footing with all the rest of the wards. Just in recent weeks it's gotten to the top of our list."

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[El Scorcho]

Oh boy. The locals are going to LOVE this one.

I'm excited!

[JDUB]

can you register in Lburg if your registered in another state? I dont think you can

[Sly Fox]

I smell some entertaining reader's comments cooking.

[PAmedic]

can you register in Lburg if your registered in another state? I dont think you can

if memory serves correctly, whichever location you choose as your PRIMARY residence (where you pay taxes) is where you may register.

IE: if you pay taxes or are registered at your family homestead in Omaha, Nebraska you cannot vote in Lynchburg.

however, if your permanent residence is 123 Main St, Lynchburg VA or something similar- you can.

don't know how it works if you are merely recieving mail at LU, without a physical address. I'd think you'd HAVE to have a residential addy to qualify.

[JDUB]

i didn't read the article before my first post . didn't it mention being able to vote in 2 different states? thats not gonna fly well, plus i dont think lynchburg wants liberty students to vote. its seems like most of what i hear from the city is negative towards LU

[olldflame]

The University of Wisconsin had a student registration drive several years ago, and the result was a boni-fide card-carrying COMMUNIST was elected mayor of Madison!

[shukcb04]

Well if that's possible, then the students at other colleges (LC, Randolph, CVCC, etc.) should be encouraged to register as well. I don't agree with it. if LU (or LC, on Randolph, etc.) isn't their PERMANENT address, they shouldn't be allowed to vote here. That would be like US Troops stationed in Iraq registering to vote in Iraqi elections - They aren't a citizen of Iraq, so they shouldn't be voting in Iraqi elections unless they make Iraq their permanent address. Also, if they want to vote for the local elections, then everytime they want to vote for any election - including state and national - they should be required to place their votes in the area where they attend college. If you live in NY, are attending LU, and want to vote in Lynchburg local elections, then your votes for all state and national elections should be required to be placed in VA and not NY.

THis just seems like a big loophole that can lead to a lot of corruption and lead to a lot of PERMANENT residents being stuck with the decisions of some temporary college students, and I don't believe the college student will know whats best for the area when they will only be here for 4 or 5 years. In my opinion, I would think they would be tempted to vote for people and laws that benefit them immediately but could lead to drastically bad things down the road that the permanent residents will be forced to deal with. I've been a permanent resident of Lynchburg since I was born. I have met quite a few LU students who I disagree with on a lot of things, and I'm positive there are a lot more of them, and I wouldn't want them making decisions on what's occurring here or going to occur here if they don't plan on staying here permanently. My point is, temporary "residents" shouldn't be allowed to vote in elections in their temporary "residence"

[Fumblerooskies]

Very good insight, shukcb04. I think one of the points that LU is making is, that if the enrollment is being counted as part of the population for districting the city into the Wards, then they should be allowed to vote. Either that, or stop counting the students for districting purposes. As a city resident, I do NOT think the temp students should be allowed to vote...but I also think they should not be counted as "residents," either.

[JDUB]

i agree. honestly, as a current student, i couldn't name one person on the council, and i have no ideas what there voting on.
i say that to say that if i don't probably 95% of LU students don't. we have no idea what goes on in the city, b/c we are not part of it. we are temporary residents, and shouldn't be counted or allowed to vote

[El Scorcho]

I do believe the point here is that if they're going to use our students to inflate the numbers they're using to get state and federal funding, they ought to be letting those students vote. If not, they ought not to be counted.

However, the interesting part to me is that precedent has already been set at William & Mary, thanks to the ACLU. Now Lynchburg can love the ACLU as much as the rest of us!

[El Scorcho]

That would be like US Troops stationed in Iraq registering to vote in Iraqi elections - They aren't a citizen of Iraq, so they shouldn't be voting in Iraqi elections unless they make Iraq their permanent address.

If they stay there any longer, I wouldn't hold it against the troops if they wanted to vote in the local elections.

THis just seems like a big loophole that can lead to a lot of corruption and lead to a lot of PERMANENT residents being stuck

Since when is legal precedent a "big loophole"? Did you not read the article? This has already been ruled on, thanks to the ACLU and a big bunch of students at William & Mary.

...with the decisions of some temporary college students, and I don't believe the college student will know whats best for the area when they will only be here for 4 or 5 years... and I wouldn't want them making decisions on what's occurring here or going to occur here if they don't plan on staying here permanently. My point is, temporary "residents" shouldn't be allowed to vote in elections in their temporary "residence"

So let's say someone moves here to take a job at BWXT this month. Next November they vote in local elections because they live here, they care about politics and they know it's their responsibility to vote. They do this in spite of the fact that they'll be leaving their job at BWXT the following December. Is their right to vote any less valid because they're only going to be a citizen here for a couple of years? What's the standard we set for when someone is eligible to vote in local elections? How long do you have to stay here before your opinion becomes valid?

Look, the students are going to be here for the majority of four years on average, and their alma mater is going to be here for even longer than that. They pay plenty in taxes via sales tax and other fees to the city while they're here. I think that if they want to be involved in voting for the ward they live in for the majority of the year for four years, they ought to be able to do it. There are issues that face students in Lynchburg and the students who live here have no voice to tackle them.

[Libertine]

For obvious reasons, you can only be registered to vote in one locale. If LU students meet the residency requirements and start registering to vote here, that's fine but they should be aware that, by doing so, they are establishing Lynchburg as their primary residence. This will affect their ability to vote anywhere else as well as affecting their tax returns, their parents' tax returns and their student loans.

I know this b/c, contrary to the quote in the article, LU did make a push to register students to vote in Virginia back in the spring of '94 when George Allen was running for governor and Oliver North was running for US Senate. I can still remember Jerry in convocation waving a fistful of registration forms and kids lining up at the concession stands to fill them out. I had a few friends who had to jump through hoops to fix the problems that registering locally had caused them.

[jimflamesfan]

Penn State did this a while back to get changes made in State College, PA. They could basically outvote the whole town.

As far as where you vote...to some extent that's up to the student. My first year at LU I voted by absentee balot back in Pennsylvania.

But then the next year, I stayed at an apartment and worked in Lynchburg, and so I switched my residency to VA and changed by license, and I voted in VA and Lynchburg (over at the Moose Lodge).

Personally, to me if you're at school in the fall/spring and at home in the summer...it's a toss-up.

BUT...if you work in the summer...are you working in VA or are you working back at your home state. I would think that you'd want to vote where you worked.

But then again...maybe you did work study while you were at LU and didn't work in the summer...then you'd probably want to register in Lynchburg.

Bottom line...if a student (especially off-campus who are renting) wants to vote in Lynchburg...they should be able to...just don't vote in two places...pick a "home".

All of this is nothing new. When I changed my residency, I kept getting the absentee ballots from PA. I had to keep calling them and telling them I switched. This is not a new problem.

[SuperJon]

I'd love to be able to vote in Lynchburg, but I'm not about to change my residency, especially because it'd be changing states. I'd have to change my plates, license, insurance, etc. If there was a "dual-residency" or something I'd be all over it

[jimflamesfan]

Yeah..I had to change all of that stuff. The license wasn't hard b/c you just give them your old license and get a new one.

I didn't read enough about what went on at William & Mary and how that affects LU...it soulds like those students were able to vote without changing their residency...

I guess the basic idea is...if they're going to count LU students as residents to get more goverenment money...then those "residents" should get a vote. Does that mean voting in two places with some kind of dual residency?

I have no idea. If someone could explain the whole W&M situation in laymans terms, that'd be great.

[SuperJon]

If I voted here, I wouldn't vote at home. I'm not home enough to follow those elections. I'd still like to be a resident there because it's home, but I live here more than I live there.

[The Rock]

They are not posting our comments!

[Sly Fox]

Uh, look again. I don't think Washingtonfish is in on the joke.

[El Scorcho]

For what it's worth, I think some of the satire comments from FlameFans were a little overboard this time around. I've been told I'm not the only one.

Be careful, guys.

[ATrain]

If you live off-campus and are in town year round, then I feel like you should register to vote in the 'Burg. Dorm students who go back home...not so much, which is why I left my vote in the Farmville area

[shukcb04]

Look, the students are going to be here for the majority of four years on average, and their alma mater is going to be here for even longer than that. They pay plenty in taxes via sales tax and other fees to the city while they're here. I think that if they want to be involved in voting for the ward they live in for the majority of the year for four years, they ought to be able to do it. There are issues that face students in Lynchburg and the students who live here have no voice to tackle them.

I'm not about to claim to be an expert on taxes, but I believe there are quite a few taxes that a non-Virginia Liberty student doesnt pay - the ones that first come to mind have to deal with cars (decals for example) and income taxes - I don't know how it works at LU, but I know at LC that students working on campus dont pay any taxes (state, local, national, social security, etc.) during the school year, but during the summer they do. I'm sure there are a multitude of other taxes, but I'm not about to do the research.

[4everfsu]

If I was a student I would vote in the burg if for no other reason to get to the goats of those who dont want a student's vote.

[JDUB]

if we don't have to pay taxes then i'm getting screwed, cause i'm definitly paying them. except state, b/c i wrote on my W-4 to not withhold state. that way i don't have to ask for it back come april

[El Scorcho]

I'm not about to claim to be an expert on taxes, but I believe there are quite a few taxes that a non-Virginia Liberty student doesnt pay...

So what's your point? I didn't claim that they pay every tax possible. I'm only saying that there's a lot of tax revenue coming in from those students spending nine months out of the year here. No matter how you slice it, the city is making a pretty penny in taxes off of them while they live here, and I think that ought to result in some form of representation.