Fox News Claims Student Voter Registration is a Felony

By J.R. Engeriser, Milwaukee Urban Star

If you are a student in Arizona and try to vote, Fox News wants to let you know that you are possibly committing a felony. A women's advocacy group in Tucson found themselves on the local news as potential criminals for their "Get Out Her Vote" campaign late last month.

"The reporter asked if we knew that we were potentially signing students up to commit felonies," says Juliana Zuccaro, a representative of the Network of Feminist Student Activists. Although out-of-state students may register to vote under Arizona law, Fox News insisted that it was a crime.

Here is a portion of the transcript from that broadcast:

Tejeda: What many don't realize is that legally, students from out of state aren't eligible to vote in Arizona because they're considered temporary residents.

Chris Roads [Pima County Registrar's office]: If they are only here to attend school and their intention is to immediately return to where they came from when school is over then they are not residents of the state of Arizona for voting purposes and they cannot register to vote here.

Tejeda: ...Those caught misrepresenting their residency can face a severe punishment.

Roads: The form in Arizona is an affidavit; it is a felony offense if you are lying on that form.

Tejeda: So how easy is it to get caught? Well, starting this past January all voter applications are crosschecked with the Motor Vehicles Department and Social Security Administration. If they find that you are falsifying your residency you could be prosecuted.

The problem is, all students who can legally vote in the United States of America have the right to do so where they attend school. The Supreme Court made sure of that by means of a 1979 ruling. Certain states, arguably in direct defiance of the Supreme Court ruling, still require that an absentee ballot be used, causing confusion for students wishing to excercise their right to vote. However, in Arizona, students may legally use their new address to register. Amazingly, that fact did not stop the Registrar's office or Fox from sending out this false 'you can't vote here' message.

You can lean more and take action by clicking here: CECAction Center. Don't let anyone intimidate young voters or suppress their votes. Send a message to Fox to retract the wrongful claims and to set the record straight regarding student voter rights.