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My Little World<\/p>\nMy Little World<\/p>\n
I live in a small town, Pataskala, Ohio; located near the center of the Ohio in Licking County.\u00a0 Just down State Route 16 is another small village, Granville; home to Denison University, my alma mater and the reason I\u2019ve lived my entire adult life here.\u00a0 This morning, the Licking County Board of Elections affirmed the \u201cright\u201d of Denison students to vote in local Granville elections.\u00a0 On the surface, that\u2019s great!<\/p>\n
But deep down there is a real concern that forced the Board of Elections to this statement.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a \u201chigh and mighty\u201d issue of National or even State import.\u00a0 It was about the Granville Exempted Village School District asking for the town to pass an income tax to support the schools.\u00a0 After a close vote passed the tax, 3586 for to 3444 against, some of the local townspeople challenged the right of Denison students to vote.<\/p>\n
Over a thousand Denison students who live in the dorms are registered to vote in Granville Village Precinct C, making up about half of the precinct’s voters. 778 voted in Precinct C this last election, with 546 for the tax and 242 against. That’s 69% for, 31% against. Only five of the fifteen precincts in the school district approved the levy; it was a close contest in almost all.<\/p>\n
So some opposed to the levy attempted to disenfranchise the students, claiming that they could not \u201clegally\u201d identify themselves with the proper paperwork required by law.\u00a0 The students countered that the law allowed them to present a utility bill as verification of their residence, even if the bill showed they paid no amount.\u00a0They presented the utility bill paid by the university in their name, one that the state was required to accept.<\/p>\n
When the United States was founded, voting was truly limited.\u00a0 Not only did voters have to be adult (21), white, males; but they also had to own property in the jurisdiction.\u00a0 The belief was that owning property gave them a \u201cstake\u201d in the community, while those who just lived there without that stake shouldn\u2019t have a voice.<\/p>\n
Things have changed over the last 231 years.\u00a0 We have recognized that everyone has a stake in where they live, whether they own property there or not.\u00a0 We have accepted the creed that every voice should be heard, and every vote counted.\u00a0At least, that\u2019s what we teach in school and what we say in speeches; it\u2019s the \u201cSchoolhouse Rock\u201d version of our democracy.<\/p>\n
In Granville students have been making a difference since the 26th\u00a0<\/sup>Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1971, lowering the voting age to 18.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0As a member of the Denison Student Government in 1974, I helped register many students to bring Granville into the 20th\u00a0<\/sup>century.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a high and mighty social cause:\u00a0 we wanted Granville to stop being a \u201cdry\u201d town and allow for alcohol sales.\u00a0 We managed to pass the regulation for the village, making it easier for residents, and student-residents at the University, to get legal beverages.\u00a0 It was fitting that Denison\u2019s first big electoral impact was about beer; it was at the time, and probably still is a big part of Denison life.<\/p>\n The community was fine with that change:\u00a0 today the Main Street is lined with upscale restaurants and bars.\u00a0 But some folks in Granville don\u2019t want students to have a voice in \u201ctheir\u201d town, and in this era of voter suppression, they have found sympathy \u00a0from Larry Wise, the Republican Chairman of the Board of Elections.\u00a0While he grudgingly allowed the students their right, he followed it up with this statement:<\/p>\n “…Until legislation is either changed, corrected, amended, clarified, whatever, we are stuck following those guidelines and directives issued by the Secretary of State,” Wise said. “Every board (of elections) in this state faces the same situations and the fact that we cannot set our own guidelines. … We have to follow (those guidelines) until we’re told to do something different.” (Newark Advocate \u2013 11\/17\/18)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n