Registration approaches end

Efforts made to avoid low student voter turnout on election day

During the 2014 Lynchburg City Council race, several people, including Montgomery Pace, chairwoman of the College Republicans of Liberty University, sacrificed much of their time to motivate students to vote. When only 198 showed up at the Liberty precinct, the Lynchburg community turned a curious eye toward campus.

Pace, along with Liberty administration, understood the importance of getting the right people into Lynchburg City Council. Several projects at Liberty University, including the Wards Road Bridge, which students use day after day, happened thanks to dedicated policy makers and advocates of the university.

More importantly, they understood the importance of the voting precinct here on campus. Even though the election was held on the last day of finals, when students turned out in low numbers, it reflected poorly on Liberty’s student body.

In 2008, before students had the luxury of voting at the Vines Center (Ward III Precinct 2), they began registering and had to travel to vote at Heritage Elementary School (Ward III Precinct 4).

In elections that followed, heavy turnout of students made for long lines of at least two hours for some students to cast ballots. Because of that and because students were taken to the precinct via bus, the university gave students the day off from school to accommodate student voting.

Following the voting issues, Liberty entered into a long debate with government officials over whether the campus should be given a voting precinct of its own, much like the University of Virginia had its own voter precinct and polling place. For more than two years, arguments went back and forth.

By February 2012, the city registrar was forced to notify the State Board of Elections, as Liberty registered 4,122 students with the university address. The precinct lines were redrawn to provide Liberty students an opportunity to vote on campus. With the ability to vote on their way to class or back to the dorm, a precinct at the Vines Center made voting much easier than before.

“(Liberty) started way back in 2009 working to get the polling place, petitioning City Council and the local officials so we could get our own on campus, because our students at the time were voting at Heritage Elementary School,” Pace said.

Pace talked about the power of Liberty’s voting students swaying the 2009 election of Scott Garrett, now a member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 23rd district, before students had the opportunity to vote at the Vines Center. Garrett defeated incumbent Shannon Valentine by 207 votes, with 2,288 students voting at the old precinct. After that election, the clash between Liberty and City Council concerning polling locations intensified.

By February 2010, Ward III precinct 4 became larger than any other precinct in the city, but City Council rejected the idea of setting up polling places at Thomas Road Baptist Church or the old Circuit City building, now the Liberty Mountain Conference Center, leaving the options as First Church of the Nazarene, further away from Liberty, or the remaining location at the time, Heritage Elementary.

The choice was made to keep the polling location at Heritage, but Pace acknowledged the tension between parties after the surprise swing vote of Garrett and what effect it may have had on City Council.

“You can always speculate (the rejection of these potential polling places) was for that reason, because I know that just the way the wards are divided, they were not always happy with where Liberty was falling,” Pace said. “We were splitting a ward before (we had our own), basically balancing our votes
with downtown’s.”

In an article from the News and Advance in November 2009, then councilman Michael Gillette emphasized the importance of Liberty’s voting power during that election.
“Last (Tuesday) did demonstrate that LU is a significant factor,” Gillette said. “And I think that is going to have a significant influence on City Council. … I think for democracy to work, everyone has to vote. If everyone votes, nobody can complain about the outcome.”

Larry Provost, of Liberty’s division of Student Affairs, explained the struggles of garnering a voting precinct on campus.

“An amazing number of Liberty students registered to vote from 2008 to 2010, over 7,500. So not only was a precinct and polling station on Liberty’s campus desirable, but necessary,” Provost said. “While Heritage Elementary was not a bad location to vote, the situation was alleviated to have Liberty students to vote on campus, and it made it easier for the community.”

Provost acknowledged the labors of students who fought for the convenience we now have.

“An overwhelming number of Liberty students voted at Heritage, giving us the precinct that we have today,” Provost said. “By voting now, we honor the efforts of past students who had to fight very hard to get the convenience of voting on campus.”

Pace said that with most students who fought for the new voting precinct having graduated, many students who now take up residence at Liberty are not aware of the struggles. She shared stories of how students often walked by the Vines Center without exercising their civil right.

“You get a lot of students who walk by and say they don’t have any time, but it takes five minutes for them to walk in and vote,” Pace said. “They say they don’t have time or they have a class, but they don’t come back. … You even have people who lie and say they’re Canadian. We get that a lot.”

As the November elections approach, Student Body President Quincy Thompson encouraged students during Convocation to invest in their country’s future and cast ballots, influencing decisions on topics like abortion, traditional marriage, taxes and so forth.

Thompson encouraged students to take a look at the candidates and the issues they stand on before casting a vote.

“I wanted to encourage students to look at these key issues like abortion and traditional marriage, in light of who we are, not only as citizens here on Earth, but as citizens of Christ,” Thompson said.

Van Dyk is the news editor.