UPDATE: Please see new diary, this diary is in error.
To say I'm steamed would be an understatement. So I apologize if this diary is lacking in clarity or logic. This is something that just came up today, so I am not sure how it will play out. I have been involved in an effort to register students on the campus of the University of Illinois to vote. Although those of us who are involved are Democrats, it has been a non partisan effort. We register anyone who wants to vote. We do not ask about party affiliation, although it does come up sometimes in the course of attempting to register some voters, and some have told me they are Republicans. We operate under the assumption the more students who vote, the better it is for Democrats. For the same reason our GOP county clerk does not like to see students vote, and he does everything in his power to discourage it. Today I believe he went a step to far.
You would think that county clerk would be a reasonably non partisan office, primarily concerned with making sure the counties business and official responsibilities were handled smoothly. This is anything but the case in Champaign County, where Mark Shelden is a thoroughly partisan hack, whose main motivation seems to be making the lives of Democratic candidates difficult. His most recent efforts involve trying to undermine the Illinois state law requiring early voting locations on public college campuses. He refuses to allow a room in the Student Union, which he has previously used for voting, and which has been offered by the University rent free to be the required on campus early voting site. Rather he choses to rent a less convenient site from a former Republican county chairman. But that is not today's issue.
As I previously mentioned we have been involved in an on campus voter registration drive. It has been tremendously productive. So far, I am told, we have registered between 1500 and 1700 voters. The deadline for mail in registration is October 5, after that you must register in person at the county clerk's office. Some of the students we have registered to vote were already registered to vote, but at a different address, although judging by my experience, most of the registrations are new voters. However this is where the story gets interesting.
On the voter registration form, there are boxes to check indicating whether this is a new registration or a change of address, and here's where the story gets nasty. One of the volunteers who has been helping register new voters just registered himself. His was a change of address, as he has just moved into the county to attend the University. So he filled out the form as a change of address, and listed his previous address in the appropriate box on the form.
He just received a letter from the county clerk telling him his registration was invalid, because he should have registered as a new voter, because change of address only applies to voters have changed their address within the county. He was told he would have to resubmit his application in order to be eligible to vote in the upcoming election in Champaign County. This, despite the fact, that the only difference in his new submission will be that the box for new registration, instead of address change will be checked, and the previous address will be omitted. Of course, he will do so, because he does not want to take the chance that he will not be able to vote. However how many will not, for various reasons?
The issue, as I see it, is can a person, who is eligible to vote, and who has accurately filled out a voter registration form be denied the right to vote? So far that has not happened, because in person voting has not yet started in Illinois. It is important to understand there is nothing on the voter registration form or instructions that defines address change to mean within the county only. So most people would assume that if you are voting at a new address, you should register under change of address. In fact there is an advisory on the form that says, any false statements are subject to perjury charges. So one might assume that to not declare your registration a change of address would be unlawful.
Of course there is no reason to view these registrations as invalid. To merely check the box marked new registration, instead of change of address and omit the previous address neither adds nor subtracts any necessary information. It is just an excuse to make a person jump throuh hoops to vote.
This may also be a voter caging strategy. it gives the county Clerk the opportunity to mail out notices to voters he does not want voting. If they say they never got the notice he can challenge their vote on that basis. As most Republicans, he has toyed with the idea of voter caging.
Shelden was given an intern to play with by the Republican muck a mucks. What productive task did he use the intern for, a voter caging study. It is a work of art, or should I say fiction. He claims, in Joe McCarthy fashion, that there were 146 illegal votes in Champaign County in 2008, whatever an illegal vote is. But in reality he does not establish that a single person who was knowingly ineligible voted in the county. The most he can really say is that of the 653 voters he sent mail to, it is possible that 146 did not properly fill out their registration forms. this does not make their votes illegal. In fact he states not a single one of the voters was shown to have voted in another jurisdiction.
This to me is a very impotant civil rights/voting rights issue. In short a Republican is doing everything in his power to deny students the right to vote, because he thinks they will support Democrats. And since I was involved in the registration of some of these students, it obviously bothers me. I think we have some legal and political avenues we can pursue. I hope they are fruitful. In a time when voter turnout is so low, the idea that a political office holder is actively discouraging young voters is eye opening, and instructive as to the true intentions of the Republican Party.