College Voter Registration Inadequate? Try Online!

State Senators Jeff Klein and Martin Dilan [released a joint study yesterday] finding that both public and private institutions in the State are failing to follow Federal law by not making voter registration material available to students on their campuses.

According to the report a quarter of public schools surveyed were not equipped to register students to vote, and 90% failed to send students voter registration materials in the mail. Of private schools, only 50% made voter registration materials available on campus, and 0% offered information by mail. In addition, over 100,000 students enrolled in the 2004-2005 academic year could not obtain voter registration materials on campus.

“Voter registration is an issue of increasing importance as the country heads into the 2008 election cycle. Fraud was a significant concern in the last two general elections, and with two serious contenders coming out of our great state and an earlier primary, New York should be the very model of democracy.” Klein said. “Our young people are our greatest asset and if we don’t make a serious effort to teach them the value of their vote by making it as simple as possible to participate in our democracy, than we have disenfranchised them from their birth right as citizens of the United States of America.”

One thing all college campuses do have is the internet, and the registration form is really, really easy to find. Here it [is]. Maybe instead of demanding the form be mailed to them, college students should just use a little common sense. If you want to vote that bad you find a way.