Charlottesville General Registrar Sheri Iachetta will appear before a U.S. congressional committee today to discuss college students’ voting rights in the towns in which they study and reside.
In appearing before Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.), who chairs the Committee on House Administration, and his peers, Iachetta intends to clarify these rights as they apply to Charlottesville and the commonwealth of Virginia.
Although students are allowed to vote in the city where they attend school, Iachetta said she feels that few students are aware of that right and that some cities may be discouraging students from voting.
“I have heard concerns from [other registrars] across the state that students are registering in dormitories,” Iachetta said.
The problem other registrars may have with this, Iachetta said, is that students may not plan on staying in the communities in which they attend school after they graduate and should, therefore, not vote in those districts as short-term residents.
Iachetta added, though, that she believes “determining a voter’s intent [to stay in the state] is not our job to decide.”
According to Iachetta, Virginia has had a history with voter disenfranchisement among minorities and should be careful of discriminating against students as a minority voting group.
“You don’t want to create a special class of citizen, especially in a voting rights state ... Students are being categorized and segregated,” she said. “They are young adults, it is their decision.”
Iachetta noted that students contribute significantly to the communities where they attend college through volunteer work and by stimulating the economy in their adopted towns. She said Charlottesville in particular is a “bustling metropolis nine months of the year.”
“Have you seen the corner in the summertime? It’s dead,” she noted.
Eugene Resnick, an out-of-state third-year College student from New York who is registered in Charlottesville, said believes he has every right to vote in Virginia. As a member of the University Democrats, Resnick said he recalls an e-mail the organization’s members received from Iachetta.
“I got an e-mail from her letting U.Va. students know that [they] can vote here,” he said. “She was actively saying ‘Vote. Please vote. You will be allowed to vote.’”
Resnick said he chose to vote in Charlottesville rather than via absentee ballot because of how significant he believes Virginia will be this election.
“We have an important congressional race [and a] very close presidential race,” he said.
As an in-state resident of Stafford, Va., second-year College student Joanne Lucas said she has chosen to vote in Charlottesville as well. Along with the convenience of voting in Charlottesville, Lucas said she does not trust the absentee voting system. “There’s a lot of controversy around [it],” she said.
Fourth-year Engineering student David Horres, on the other hand, said he has decided to vote by absentee ballot because he knows he won’t be in Charlottesville after he graduates.
Jordan Fix, a second-year Engineering student and a Florida resident, said he is also voting by absentee ballot because he registered prior to coming to Charlottesville.
“I feel like they’re both pretty close states,” he said. “Either way I might actually make a difference in terms of my vote.”
Iachetta said overall she hopes to make sure students know they have a choice about where to make their vote count this election, whether through the mail or at a community polling place.
Iachetta added that after her meeting with Congress today, she will continue to work closely with the General Assembly on clarifying the rights of student voters.
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