Arkansas Gov.'s Daughter to Challenge Ban on College Student Voting

A judge in Little Rock, Ark., has ruled that out-of-town college students cannot vote in his county on Election Day, and Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee has offered his daughter as a plaintiff to challenge the ruling. Circuit Judge John Thomas ruled Tuesday that students who live on campus remain residents of their hometowns, and he directed election officials to void ballots for those who give a university address.

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A judge in Little Rock, Ark., has ruled that out-of-town college students cannot vote in his county on Election Day, and Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee has offered his daughter as a plaintiff to challenge the ruling. Circuit Judge John Thomas ruled Tuesday that students who live on campus remain residents of their hometowns. He directed election officials to void ballots for those who give a university address. The ruling affects 912 students at Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University, both in Arkadelphia. Sarah Huckabee, a student at Ouachita Baptist, is among those barred from casting a ballot in Clark County, 60 miles southwest of Little Rock. Her father is running for re-election; her mother, Janet, is running for secretary of state. The governor said that denying his daughter a chance to vote is wrong. “She voted in the 2000 election. She was called for jury duty and served faithfully. Her two parents are on the ballot,” Huckabee said Wednesday. A lawsuit challenging the ruling was expected to be brought as early as Thursday. The judge ruled in a case brought by the son of a justice of the peace candidate. The candidate is facing a challenge from a Ouachita Baptist graduate. “In the last few days of voter registration, we’re hearing stories of just hundreds of students registering. It became clear that my right to vote was just going down the drain,” said the candidate’s son, Floyd Curry. “Even if these students voted the way I do, it’s still diluting my vote.” Secretary of State Sharon Priest, the state’s chief elections officer, said students should register in their parents’ county if they intend to return to their hometown after college, and register in their college town if they have left home for good. Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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