This diary ties into the earlier diary about purging voter rolls. ( Article that compelled me to call.) I am already an election judge, but I wanted to find out how I could assist with registering university students. I called my County Clerk's office for the information and he directed me to the NAACP, the League of Women's Voters, or a public radio station that is starting a voter registration drive.
I asked him why not use the local Democratic Party? He stated, "The Republicans have not sponsored a single registrar." While this might sound encouraging, it is not. If one party has sponsored 100 registrars, the other party has to have the same amount.
Then I asked if the Republicans can challenge the voters registered by the registrars-he said, "Yes they can." I asked if those could be voters purged? He said, "Yes they can."
Now I know that every state has different rules and bylaws on how to register voters, but I was not aware of this little tid-bit. I live in Illinois, so I do not have a major concern for my state during this election. I do have concerns for all of the states that are starting their purges as listed in the article posted earlier. Whether or not you believe the basis for the earlier article, I have found a few additional articles, on this issue, in other states. For instance,Texas or Kansas, Michigan, and Louisiana started purging. Mississippi is purging, but Madison county has decided to suspend the finding that purging could be illegal. Pulaski Co. Arkansas completed a purge of 15,000
While some will argue that purging is necessary due to voter migration, I believe certain areas are targeted, with purges, more than others. I have sat through two elections on the Southern Illinois University where purging is completed frequently. Most of the students move on after graduation, so it is necessary to clean out the giant books of outdated forms. However, the county will purge the rolls during August, when all of the students have left for the summer. When they return, their names are gone.
Therefore, here are some recommendations for people wanting to assist with registrations.
- Check with your election officials about rules. Even the rules that might be unforeseen-such as mentioned in the beginning.
- When registering brand new voters-give them some instructions. Give them the phone number and ask them to call the county clerk to ensure they are on the list at least by the deadline to register. (Or whatever office is responsible registration oversight in that state.)
- Work with college kids. They are clueless when it comes to voting. Tell them any time they move, they have to re-register, even from dorm to dorm. Usually this process is easy-our cards have an address change on the back.
- Know where their polling place will be if possible. If they have to go to more than one site, they will be less likely to vote.
- If they are having trouble showing up on the roster, tell them to be persistent-it is their right to vote.
- If you are interested in registering voters-you may want to go through a neutral organization so this can not be used as a tactic by the Republicans.
We are running out of time so let's work on some of these suggestions to make this a truly historic election.