NAICU - Misguided Student Voter Act Amendment Dropped

Even though the 2012 NAICU Annual Meeting is history, you can continue to benefit and learn from the many presentations and speeches that were offered, and are now available on line.

New College Affordability Measures

Initiatives being launched in 2012-13 to help keep students' and families' out-of-pocket costs as low as possible. Tuition cuts and freezes, three-year degree programs, and more. Complete list.

NAICU Statement on President Obama's Higher Ed Proposals

NAICU President David Warren commends the president's commitment to student assistance, and calls for avoiding unintended consequences for students. More

Net Tuition Price Falls 4.1% at Private Colleges

Inflation-adjusted net tuition and fees at private colleges actually dropped 4.1 percent in the last five years, according to a recent College Board report. More

News Search of the Week

Here's what the media are saying about:

Higher Education Reform/Innovation

. . . or visit our full search-by-topic list to browse news and commentary on any of 80+ higher ed topics.

Banner images provided by Whitworth University.

Home

News Room

Misguided Student Voter Act Amendment Dropped

NAICU Washington Update

November 6, 2009

The House Administration Committee has dropped proposed legislation that would have amended the National Voter Registration Act ("Motor Voter Act"), making any university that receives federal funds a voter registration agency for the purposes of the Act. NAICU sent a memo to Hill staff expressing concerns prior to the October hearing, when the proposal was dropped. The proposed legislation raised serious legal questions about the fundamental responsibility of states to manage elections.

The proposed legislation was a solution seeking a problem. It sought to require schools, as state voter registration agencies, to provide mail voter registration application forms to students registering for courses. If this sounds familiar, it's because the 1998 Higher Education Act already mandated that all colleges and universities make a good-faith effort to distribute in-state voter registration forms to all degree or certificate seeking students who attend class on campus. The difference here is that the new law would have crossed a critical line, placing private entities under state control for the purposes of voter registration.

Also, NAICU had already been successful in clarifying, in the 2008 Higher Education Act, that electronic transmission of voter registration forms would satisfy the HEA mandate. This made it easier for students to register to vote, and for colleges to administer the provision by taking state voting offices out of the process.

Since 1996, through the National Campus Voter Registration Project, NAICU has actively worked to enhance civic engagement and political participation among college students. College students rank among the most actively engaged citizens, according to the Center for Information and Research (CIRCLE), with 2.2 million more young people (18-29) turning out to vote in 2008 than in 2004.

As always, legislation can resurface. But it appears this effort may have moved to the back burner for the time being.

Contact

Bo Newsome
bo@naicu.edu