Jessica Dahlberg
Staff Writer
VCU students are working with organizations across the political spectrum to register as many voters on campus as they can before the Oct. 15 registration deadline.
According to Vicki Yeroian, the president of VCU’s Young Democrats, the group, along with their subgroups Students for Barack Obama and Organizing for America, have registered about 2,000 voters since June.
VCU’s College Republicans have also made registration a priority this semester. They’ve set up tables every week at the University Student Commons where students can register to vote for the first time or change their registration information, including addresses.
“I try to convince people to redo their registration because it’s easier than an absentee ballot,” said Martha Crosby, chairperson for VCU’s chapter of College Republicans. “People have so many questions about absentee ballots and if there is one mistake the ballot will get sent back to them.”
The deadline to vote by absentee ballot by mail is Oct. 26. Sarabjeet Singh, a volunteer with Students for Barack Obama, said students might not have to fill out absentee ballots and that they can register at their campus address even if they are not a Virginia resident.
However, according to the State Board of Elections website, “A prospective voter must be a resident of the Commonwealth and of the precinct where he seeks to register.” In order to establish residency, the website states the voter must have a dwelling where they are planning to stay for an unlimited amount of time. The State Board of Elections has a questionnaire on their website to assist people in determining their legal residence, but students living at their college are generally accepted as having established residency where they attend school.
Another obstacle voters on campus face is Virginia’s new voter identification law. Before the law, voters who showed up at the polls without ID could sign a sworn statement saying they are who they were claiming to be.
Now, voters without ID can still vote and sign a sworn statement, but their vote will not count unless they provide proper identification by noon the Friday after Election Day. However, student identification cards issued by a state college or university are an acceptable form of ID under the law, so any current VCU student with a VCUCard can vote with their ID.
If students no longer have their VCU IDs, the new law extended acceptable forms of identification to be almost any type of government issued identification cards, as well as utility bills and pay check stubs. A photo ID is not required. Gov. Bob McDonnell issued an executive order stating every registered voter in the state would be mailed a new voter registration card by Oct. 1, which will be accepted at the polls.
The Young Democrats have taken to handing out “Pledge to Vote” cards that list the four most common types of identification: a Virginia student ID, a Virginia voter registration card, a cell phone or other utility bill with name and address and a Virginia driver’s license. The group hopes the cards won’t just educate, but help get students to the polls.
“Statistics show that if a college student signs something they are more likely to vote,” Singh said. “We keep the cards and are going to call students to remind them to vote.”