Constitutional Law

Colo. Official Spreads False Voting Information On College Campus

A Colorado county official acknowledged encouraging a college official to wrongly inform out-of-state students that they could not vote in the state if their parents claimed them as a dependent on their tax returns.

Robert Balink, a delegate to the Republican National Convention and El Paso County Clerk, admitted that he had misinterpreted state law and “mistakenly published information that was incorrect,” after officials with the Colorado Democratic Party accused him of trying to suppress the college vote.

Martha Tierney, with the state Democratic Party, told McClatchy Newspapers that she had obtained e-mails about Balink’s office sending a flier to the Colorado College president’s office for circulation to students. The flier stated that, “What this means is that if your parents still claim you on their income tax returns, and they file that return in a state other than Colorado, you are not eligible to register to vote or vote in Colorado.”

The incident, McClatchy notes, follows similar ones in Virginia and South Carolina that have garnered attention. For example, on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., a county official circulated memos suggesting that students from outside the state who register to vote in Virginia could endanger their scholarships, health insurance and parents’ ability to claim them as independents on their tax returns.

Jon Greenbaum, with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told McClatchy that state regulation on voting cannot violate the U.S. Constitution, which means that states cannot adopt rules that treat groups of voters differently.

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) will co-host a panel discussion at American University Washington College of Law on Oct. 7 on voting rights. The panelists, including Kristen Clarke, Nina Perales, Wendy Weiser, Jonah Goldman and moderator, Dahlia Lithwick, will examine issues that will likely affect voting rights in the upcoming general election, including voter identification laws and efforts aimed at suppressing voter turnout. The event, to be simulcast, will available via streaming video at www.ACSLaw.org/PortecttheVote.

Earlier this year, ACS launched a Web site providing education information on students’ voting rights.  

Full post as published by ACS Blog on September 26, 2008 (boomark / email).