Posted: September 20th, 2004 | Author: Rob | Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off
This event looks good!
7PM THIS WEDNESDAY …
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GET OUT THE VOTE 2004: EDUCATION, REGISTRATION, and MOBILIZATION
A Speaker’s Panel
7:00 PM – Wednesday, Sept. 22
Angel Hall Aud B
Featuring keynote:
- JARVIS HOUSTON – People for the American Way Foundation to speak on Election Protection 2004
Speakers:
- CHRIS KOLB, MI State House Rep. on students’ stake on the proposed marriage amendment
- LIZ BRATER, MI State Senator on why the student vote is critical to preserve the environment
- JOHN HIEFTJE, Ann Arbor Mayor on why local politics matter
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http://www.upcoming.org/event/9026
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Posted: September 20th, 2004 | Author: Rob | Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off
With just two weeks to go before the deadline to register to vote in Michigan (Oct. 4), eerie things are happening on the Michigan Secretary of State’s website.
First, a little background. In a callow move in 2000, Republicans in the state of Michigan passed a law requiring college students in Michigan have one address for both their voter registration and also drivers’ license. Sensible students registered to vote wherever they wanted – either at their college town, or their hometown. If you vote in your college town, the state will send you a sticker to put on your license to update that address. No big deal – just another move by Republicans to make it harder for people to vote.
There’s one more catch, however: that law required that if you are registering to vote by mail, the first time you vote must be in person, not by absentee ballot. The Republican state legislators knew that college students would likely prefer to register to vote in their home towns, since the first election most would be able to vote in they’d be away at college. You can almost hear them doing the Dr. Evil cackle in smokey rooms in Lansing.
The solution, of course, is just register in Ann Arbor (or your college town) and vote in person. They also allowed absentee ballots for your first election if you request one in person – how nice, if the students remembered to do it when they were home – three months before the election.
Here’s where things get murky. Until recently, the state’s Secretary of State website clearly explained this anti-democratic law instituted to suppress student votes:
“First-time voter. If you have never voted in Michigan and register by mail, you must appear in person to vote in the first election in which you wish to participate. This requirement does not apply if (1) you or another person hand delivers the mail registration form to your county, city or township clerk’s office instead of mailing the form (2) you are 60 years of age or more (3) you are disabled or (4) you are eligible to vote under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.”
You may have noticed I linked to a Google cached copy of the website. That’s because the Secretary of State has edited the website, omitting the critical phrase “or another person”. Here’s the current text:
“First-time voter. If you have never voted in Michigan and register by mail, you must appear in person to vote in the first election in which you wish to participate. This requirement does not apply if (1) you personally hand delivers the mail registration form to your county, city or township clerk’s office instead of mailing the form (2) you are 60 years of age or more (3) you are disabled or (4) you are eligible to vote under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.”
You “personally hand delivers”? Sounds like somebody in Republican Tarri Lynd Land’s Secretary of State office is up to no good, unless the law has changed under the noses of the media. What’s the bottom line?
If you are from Michigan, you should register to vote in Ann Arbor. You won’t have to worry about this law, and your polling place will likely be the Union or your dorm. To register, fill out this form and mail it to the address listed for Ann Arbor by October 4. The city will send you a card telling you where to vote. To check to see if you’re registered anywhere in Michigan, use this website.
If you are from out-of-state, you can decide whether to vote at home or in Michigan. Michigan is a swing state in the presidential election, but Kerry is polling ahead – check here to see if there is a close senate race in your home state. When in doubt, vote in Ann Arbor – it’s easy.
Furthermore:
- The Michigan State Legislature should repeal the law requiring students must have the same address for voting and on their driver’s licenses. The current arrangement simply serves to confuse voters and wastes taxpayer’s money by forcing the government to keep changing addresses.
- Election Day should be a federal holiday to facilitate voting by giving the people the day off work.
- All people – whether in prison, on probation, or otherwise should have the right to vote. Currently, Maine and Vermont do this, but in every other state there are restrictions – in Michigan, only prisoners serving time for felonies cannot vote – not as bad as Florida or Mississippi, where felons lose the right to vote permanently. See RightToVote.org.
- The U.S. should require all states require the most accurate voting machinery available, all voting machines produce a paper trail for recounts, and provide federal funding to enable every local agency to purchase the most accurate machines. I prefer the Scantron machines used in Ann Arbor: very efficient and accurate – no Diebold machines, no hanging chad.
Posted: September 13th, 2004 | Author: Rob | Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off
“More than 80 percent of the population of Detroit is black. This is very well understood by John Pappageorge, who is white and a Republican state legislator in Michigan. “If we do not suppress the Detroit vote,” said Mr. Pappageorge, “we’re going to have a tough time in this election.”
Oops! Republicans aren’t supposed to actually say they want to suppress black votes. That’s so retro. It’s so Jim Crow. This is the 21st century, and the thing now is to do the dastardly deed, but never ever acknowledge it. …
A lot of other Republicans have similar views about the vote in areas with large African-American populations. Most blacks vote Democratic. If those votes can be suppressed, Republicans benefit. And there is increasing evidence that a big effort to suppress the vote among blacks and some other heavily Democratic voting groups is under way, which is why it is important to keep the following phone number handy:
1-866-OUR VOTE.
That’s a hot line set up by the Election Protection Coalition, a group that was formed to identify and stamp out attempts to disenfranchise voters, especially in predominantly black and Latino precincts around the country.
On Election Day in November, the coalition expects to have as many as 25,000 volunteers, including 5,000 lawyers, available to provide assistance to voters who encounter irregularities or feel they are not being treated fairly at the polls. Voters who call the hot line will immediately be put in touch with volunteers in their local area. …
The attempt to prevent blacks from voting has been a staple of America’s political history, like long-winded speeches and balloons. I wrote three columns last month about a situation in Orlando, Fla., in which armed state police officers went into the homes of elderly black voters to question them as part of a so-called criminal investigation involving absentee ballots. This tactic sent a definite chill through voters who were old enough to remember the torment inflicted on Southern blacks who tried to vote in the 1950′s and 60′s. ..
In Texas, students at the predominantly black Prairie View A&M University were threatened with arrest by the local district attorney, a Republican, who suggested they were not eligible to vote in the county in which the school was located. This was nonsense. Students can vote in their college towns if they designate the campus as their home address. The whole point, of course, was intimidation. The threat of arrest is an excellent way of deterring someone from voting. … “
> From Bob Herbert’s New York Times column “Protect the Vote”
> Go to the Election Protection website
Posted: September 13th, 2004 | Author: Rob | Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off
University of Michigan students should register and vote in Ann Arbor whether they are from Michigan or any other state. The deadline to register to vote in Michigan is October 4th.
Why? First, voting is your right as an American citizen. If you think you might be registered in Michigan somewhere else, register again, there’s a space on the form for you to note any previous registrations, and the city clerk will sort it out. There is no national database for voting so you will not be caught if they make a mistake. Simply register and vote once! Second, if you are registered in Ann Arbor, you’ll be more likely to vote: your nearest voting location may be as close as your dorm! Voting precincts include South Quad, the Union, East Quad, and Bursley. To register to vote, see if you are already registered, or find out where to vote see the State of Michigan’s Publius.org or contact the Ann Arbor City Clerk’s Office.
If you have a special reason to vote from home, request an absentee ballot now. People for the American Way has posted an online student voting guide where you can compare states’ deadlines, requirements, see whether they have close senate or presidential races, and even register to vote online.
UPDATE: The ACLU of Michigan has posted on their website a useful pamphlet – “Student Voting Rights in Michigan”, and also this Michigan Absentee Ballot Application. Registered in Ann Arbor but can’t vote there? Download the Ann Arbor Absentee Ballot Application.
This week’s Chronicle of Higher Education (website is by subscription only, U-M students can read it here) has two interesting stories about voting on college campuses. That publication concluded more than half of the colleges and universities they surveyed were following a federal law that requires they take steps to help their students register to vote. The federal Higher Education Act requires that “colleges and universities to request a sufficient number of voter registration forms for the entire campus 120 days before an election’s registration deadline. The law also requires schools to distribute those forms to each enrolled student.”
The study, conducted by the Chronicle and Harvard University, concluded that “Nearly 17 percent of schools surveyed report meeting the Act’s strict requirements. In addition, nearly 49 percent of the schools surveyed meet the “spirit” of the law by making paper voter registration materials readily available on campus and hosting an on-campus voter registration drives.” The study noted many schools had come up with creative ways to encourage students to vote:
Many schools have come up with extremely creative methods of encouraging voter registration. For example, Purdue University includes a section on voter registration with fee statements mailed to every student. At San Francisco State University, every student receives an e-mail from the school President encouraging him/her to register to vote. The University of New Hampshire provides voter information to incoming students and their parents during orientation. The President and key student leaders at Ithaca College hold a “Parade to the Polls” on Election Day. At Dickinson College’s fall Ben and Jerry’s ice cream night this fall, the admission ticket is a student’s sealed absentee ballot, which the school will post and mail for the student, or his/her voter registration card.
At Michigan, MSA’s Voice Your Vote commission is the most active of a wide variety of voter registration and education efforts taking place.
> See my voting post from September 2003: Democracy 101
Posted: September 2nd, 2004 | Author: Rob | Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off
Through the November 2 election I’ll be working with People for the American Way (PFAW) in Washington D.C. on their Save the Court and Right To Vote campaigns.
PFAW and many other organizations are also doing excellent work with their Election Protection program, which is an effort to register, educate, and mobilize voters, work with election officials to ensure accurate voting rolls and machinery, and also organize legal help lines for election day.
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