While Americans across the country cast their ballots for the 2004 Presidential candidate Tuesday, several students in Starkville were unable to exercise that privilege. These students, who registered through different on-campus organizations, did not get to vote in Oktibbeha County because of errors on their registration applications.
Student Association President Adam Telle said the SA got at least five phone calls from students unable to vote Tuesday.
The SA sponsored several different registration drives including tables outside The Union, the six sorority houses, Dawg Daze and the SA-sponsored petition drive earlier this semester, said Morgan McPhail, SA voter registration chair.
“Overall, we registered about 634 voters,” she said.
The College Republicans had two voters call saying they were not able to vote, said Lindsey Tew, president of the organization.
The College Democrats had “at least one report of that kind of problem,” President Brandon Bogard said.
Incorrect forms or a lack of information on the registration forms seemed to cause the problems for voters.
“From what I understand,” Tew said, “was that we turned in all the applications but the circuit court office threw them out if anything was wrong and didn’t tell us. We tried to check them all but we could have overlooked something.”
Delois Lyons, Oktibbeha County deputy clerk with voter registration, said attempts were made to contact voters with faulty registration.
“When someone registers outside the office, there is no proof of their registration,” she said. “If they put their home address from another county or state, we forwarded the application there.”
Both McPhail and Tew said their organizations checked every form before submitting them to the circuit clerk’s office.
“But when there are that many forms, there is bound to be human error,” McPhail said.
Bogard said his group was “absolutely upset” about the situation. He encouraged people to vote by affidavit ballot instead.
Mary Margaret Kimmel, who registered with the SA, was one of those who voted by affidavit.
“When I went to vote at the SportsPlex, they looked me up but couldn’t find my name. They asked me why I had filled out a registration form and then told me to fill out the affidavit ballot. I filled it out, sealed the envelope and was able to cast my vote.”
Kimmel was registered in Greenville but switched to Starkville to participate “Also,” she said, “do not wait until the day of to verify your registration. Give it at least 30 days.”
From their on-campus registration drives during campaign season, the College Republicans registered nearly 200 voters. The College Democrats registered “about 100,” Bogard said.
in the SA petition drive. “Several of my friends and I did it together and they all got to vote.”
While she was not upset about the situation, Kimmel said she was just confused as to why her application did not go through.
“I just wanted to be able to vote,” she said.
Tew wants to work out something with the circuit clerk to ease the process of voter registration next time there is a large drive. “We are also going to make sure people know we are watching them closely while they fill out the forms,” she said.
To prevent another incident of this kind from occurring, Lyons encourages voters to register in the circuit clerk’s office, where they can be given proof of registration.
“Also,” she said, “do not wait until the day of to verify your registration. Give it at least 30 days.”
From their on-campus registration drives during campaign season, the College Republicans registered nearly 200 voters. The College Democrats registered “about 100,” Bogard said.