Conservative U Cancels Classes in High Stakes Virginia Election

While GOP officials seek to limit the decidedly left-leaning student vote at Virginia Tech, they seem to have little objection to the dramatic steps that administrators at another Virginia school, evangelical stronghold Liberty University, are taking to get their students to the polls. Eric Kelderman on The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Election 2008 Blog describes Liberty’s planned efforts to get out the student vote:

The chancellor of the conservative Christian college, Jerry Fallwell Jr., is canceling classes on Election Day and providing buses to drive students to the polls, according to a story in The Washington Post. Voter-registration forms are being distributed in the dorms and classrooms to get both in- and out-of-state students signed up before the October 6 deadline for registering for the general election.

Liberty’s decisive steps to increase student participation (steps that might well be appropriate on every campus) demonstrate the degree to which political activists on the far right, the far left, and everywhere in between have come to realize the enormous potential of the youth vote to transform this election.

The best way to determine which voting constituencies are believed to pose the greatest threat to the political status quo is to follow the news carefully and track the populations who are experienced attempts to limit their voter participation. In this election, that would be African Americans of all ages and classes and students of all ethnicities.

I believe that all who are eligible should register and vote, in this and every election! If you are a member of one of those groups who are experiencing challenges to your right to vote, however, you should take special care to participate. If your vote didn’t matter, then no one would care whether you registered or not.

If you haven’t registered, then do so as soon as possible. In many jurisdictions the deadline is only 3 weeks away. If you have already registered, then register a friend. Grab some voter registration cards and make sure everyone you know has filled one out and submitted it. Register your neighbors and friends, and then, if you have a car, consider driving people to their polling places, especially students, seniors, and others who may have limited transportation options.

There are many sites online where you can register to vote:

• The Afrosphere Bloggers Site is a good place to start, with several helpful links that will help you get registered in your state. Click HERE.
• Rock the Vote is another place where voters from all states and territories can register. Click HERE.
• Congress.Org provides an interactive U.S. map that will allow you to download the voter registration form for your state or territory. Click HERE.

Posted by Ajuan Mance