One giant step for student voter enfranchisement should have been the Higher Education Act 1998 which asked colleges to make a ‘good faith effort’ to help students to register to vote. A 2004 study by the Harvard Institute of Politics and The Chronicle of Higher Education found that over a quarter of public institutions and over 40 percent of private institutions are out of compliance with the law. So 10 years after this toothless epitome, we have a proposed amendment to the Motor Voter Act which will designate as “voter-registration agencies” all colleges and universities that receive federal funds. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, a Republican of Ohio, introduced the bill (HR 6704) in the House, and Sen. Dick Durbin, also a Democrat of Illinois, introduced it the Senate, calling it the Student Voter Opportunity to Encourage Registration Act, or Student Voter Act. Lets hope that this new embodiment will be used with full force and that this will further lead to the enfranchisement of students all over the United States.

Other posts by Ekua Boateng

• National Voter Registration Month - September 2008 - September 16th, 2008
• Vote 18! - August 25th, 2008
• Election Protection Hotline - Now Live! - August 14th, 2008
• A Good Faith Effort Indeed? - August 8th, 2008
• I Vote You Vote - July 24th, 2008
• Tuesday & Thursday - Low turnout at the polls? - June 26th, 2008
• The megaphone of the insurgents - May 29th, 2008
• Presidential Idol - May 22nd, 2008
• The Facebook President - May 13th, 2008
• A Broken Record? Or a One Hit Wonder? - May 8th, 2008