'Stark pattern of discrimination': Judge makes it easier for college students to vote

[jpak]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/07/25/stark-pattern-of-discrimination-judge-makes-it-easier-for-college-students-to-vote/?utm_term=.66a338f2cc48

A federal judge is making it easier for college students to vote in Florida, ruling this week that a provision barring early voting centers from university campuses is unconstitutional and intentionally discriminatory.

The ruling sets an important precedent nationally, two legal scholars said, by invoking the 26th Amendment, which prohibits the government from using age as a reason to deny the right to vote for anyone 18 or older. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote that an opinion from the office of Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner “reveals a stark pattern of discrimination” because it so directly bears on young voters, comparing it to past efforts to limit voters based on their race.

“It’s a really exciting case,” said Jenny Diamond Cheng, a lecturer in law at Vanderbilt University Law School. “It’s an important precedent. . . . What’s new is that here the court actually found that the Florida policy was in fact intended to make it harder for college students to vote,” and struck it down on those lines. “He didn’t mince words,” she added.

Walker wrote that the justifications given were ham-handed.

<more>

[Roland99]

1. Remains to be seen if the state will actually add voting centers as requested

They’ll drag their feet as looooong as possible

University of Florida students asked Gainesville officials to add a center at the student union on campus. But when city officials asked if that was allowed under law, a state official responded that university buildings could not be used for early voting.

Six current and former students, along with the Andrew Goodman Foundation, the Priorities USA Foundation and the League of Women Voters of Florida, challenged the secretary of state. One of them, Megan Newsome, had trouble getting to polling places in past elections; she asked for rides from friends at the University of Florida, and one year took a cab both ways. Another year, she organized a shuttle for students wanting to vote early, and heard from many that they wished the shuttle had been able to run more than one day.

[Gothmog]

2. Yeah

I look forward to reading this opinion