Voting at HBCUs Hit Record Levels

Black College Wire. Posted November 12, 2004.

After months of on-campus voter registration drives, rallies led by celebrities and courting by candidates, the ranks of young voters swelled to record levels, according to reports from HBCU newspapers and mainstream news media.

While many colleges reported that voting went smoothly, long lines were common. At some schools, mix-ups delayed or prevented some students from voting.

Many students ran into problems proving they were eligible to vote. Some were told that they brought inadequate identification to the polls. Others said they had registered but discovered their names were not recorded in their precinct's lists. A few reported problems with voting machines and misunderstandings about the provisional ballots. And some alleged voter intimidation took place when poll watchers challenged the students' right to vote.

Meanwhile, there were reports of improvements at two schools where there were voting difficulties in 2000. Here are snapshots from across the country:

Albany State University: A controversy erupted at the polling station serving Georgia's Albany State University, where "a lot of students were not permitted to vote because they were not registered in Dougherty County," reports Ashley Hindsman, editor of The Student Voice. Cassandra Lewis, Student Government Association president, and Portia Holmes Shields, president of the university, contacted local officials asking for more provisional ballots to be sent to the school, Hindsman reported.

Benedict College: Republican poll watchers challenged the legality of dozens of voters, many of them students, temporarily delaying their casting ballots, reported The State newspaper of Columbia, S.C. A U.S. congressman who was at the precinct told The State that the poll watchers were disenfranchising voters. Students could use provisional ballots, which later could be challenged, said Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.

Bethune-Cookman College: Students turned out to let their voices be heard, some during early voting, others on Election Day. Jeanne Erfurt, a volunteer election official, estimated that by early afternoon, close to 500 students had voted.

For a few, getting the vote in was not so easy. "At the beginning of the semester, I registered to vote through a voters drive aimed at students, but I never received confirmation in the mail," said Kofi Jack, a junior from Jacksonville, Fla. Instead, Jack was told on voting day to use a provisional ballot. He did.

Students who were turned away had access to on-site counseling from attorneys Rick Posen and Steve Powell. They encouraged the students to fill out the provisional ballots despite any conflicting information the students might have received.

Dillard University: State and city officials were not in agreement about the cause of the delays at the polling stations for Dillard and nearby Xavier University of Louisiana.

Outside the polling place, a public library across the street from Dillard's campus, the young voters huddled under umbrellas for up to five hours.

Julie C. Andrews, election commissioner-in-charge for the precinct serving Dillard, told the school's Courtbouillon newspaper that turnout from the university is typically less than 500 people. By Nov. 2, however, roughly 1,800 Dillard students were registered, and Andrews anticipated about 1,500 arriving to vote.

An estimated 57 percent of the registered voters showed up, compared with a 16 percent turnout during a local election in September, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.

Andrews praised the massive student turnout. She also noted that many students did not carry adequate identification. "The problem I see, particularly with the Dillard students, is that they have not read, or they have not even paid attention to what was going on on TV. Most of the people that came in from the community were prepared. They came in with their voter registration card and IDs and were ready to go."

Florida A&M University: Students were spared a repeat of the 2000 national election, when dozens were wrongly turned away from the polls by officials who claimed the students were not registered to vote. That incident prompted hundreds to sit in at the state Capitol in Tallahassee. Local and national voter protection groups vowed they would monitor the 2004 election to prevent voter disenfranchisement. The Famuan student newspaper reported long lines, but otherwise uneventful voting Nov. 2.

Still, the election season was not problem-free: In October, the Associated Press reported on a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation of 1,500 suspicious voter registration forms that designated Florida students as Republicans. Most were students at FAMU, Florida State University or Tallahassee Community College, the report said. By calling students, authorities determined that many of the suspicious registrations were false.

Contributing were Ashley Hindsman, editor, The Student Voice, Albany State University; Shearon Roberts, editor-in-chief, and Ashley Harris, staff writer, at Dillard University's The Courtbouillon; Chad Roberts, editor in chief, The A&T Register, North Carolina A&T University; Kari Cobham of Voice of the Wildcats at Bethune Cookman College and the staff and archives of The Famuan, Florida A&M University and of The Panther, Prairie View A&M University.

This article originally appeared on BlackCollegeWire.org

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