 (Image: New Voters Project) |
To make people more aware of the situation, the New Voters Project launched an online petition. The petition asks election officials to protect the rights of young people to vote where they go to school.
Some local election officials won't allow students to register using their dorm address. Others say that students don't live in the town long enough and therefore shouldn't vote there. And those are just some of the problems. Two years ago, a polling place at Skidmore College closed. Students had to travel off-campus to vote.
"If you make it hard for young people to vote, they aren't going to vote," said Adam Alexander, National Communication Coordinator at the New Voters Project.
In the last presidential election, less than 32 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds voted. Many people want to reverse that trend. In fact, that's one of the goals with the New Voters Project's petition. But that might not happen if colleges and universities are making it difficult for students to register or to vote.
"If students are disenfranchised [denied their voting rights], it will create a trend in the opposite direction," Alexander said.
Alexander believes it's important for kids to start voting when they get to college. Some colleges and universities are helping that happen. Northern Kentucky University named November 2, 2004, as Democracy Day. The school's Web site tells students where to vote, how to register, and even informs students about important election issues.
Students can always use absentee voting, but that can mean a lot of work: getting the voting form, filling it out, and mailing it back to the state where the voter is registered. "[Absentee voting] requires more effort than a polling place," Alexander said.
For more information, visit www.newvotersproject.org.
