Month: February 2008

The following is a guest post from my friend, halrivers.

Don’t Encourage Them: The Threat of the College Vote
By U. Samuels Apoplect

While activist courts have sometimes supported unfettered access to the franchise by college students, we are under no obligation to encourage them to register to vote; indeed, we should not. They are often temporary residents of the communities where they matriculate, and they are likely more interested in parties and FaceBook pop stars than in the traditions of our republic. If the drudgery of filing an absentee ballot discourages them, it’s their problem, not ours. Voter suppression for students and others too distracted to merit the franchise is time-honored and legitimate.

The problem arises when the usual suspects, viz. the ACLU and the Brennan Center for Justice, intervene in the natural course of student apathy to force voting officials to strictly comply with the Supreme Court decision affirming the right of all students to register in their school community if they consider it to be their residence (Symm v. United States, 1979). This ruling forbids such officials from demanding students show any item other than a college ID (i.e., driver’s license, apartment lease, utility bill) or to answer special questionnaires to demonstrate residency, on the grounds that such requirements impose an undue burden.