Student groups views of who can register differ with county officials

05:08 PM MST on Friday, September 24, 2004

By Natalie Tejeda, Fox 11 News

University of Arizona students, many of them future lawyers, demand they have the right to vote here in Tucson.

It’s a follow up to a story we first told you about last week when the Pima County Registrar of Voters told us many students didn't qualify to cast a ballot in Arizona.

Today at a news conference on campus, students defiantly told officials "come and get us".

“We have the supreme court case that says that as students living in a student community we have the right to vote,” says UA law student Kristen Drumm. “To me that's just a null issue. I mean if they want to come attack us, attack us. We'll bring our attorneys and we'll win.

Future attorneys with attorneys is the defensive position the women are taking to protect their right to register to vote wherever they want.

What started as a Fox 11 News story about voter registration for young people has moved this group to fight back against the Pima County Registrar of Voters.

“The United States Supreme Court has expressly ruled that college communities must allow students to register to vote,” says student Juliana Zuccaro.

Chris Roads, Pima County's Registrar of Voters still stands behind the claim he made last week that some college students aren't eligible.

“If they're only here to attend school, and their intention is to immediately return to where they came from when schools over then they not residents of the state of Arizona for voting purposes and they cannot vote here," says Roads.

Arizona state law defines an Arizona “resident” as a person with actual physical presence in the state combined with an intent to remain.

Zucarro says that’s where students do qualify

“Arizona law does not stipulate duration and may not under the federal voting rights amendment of 1970 which prohibits states from imposing durational residency requirements,” claims Zuccaro. “Although it does not specify any amount of time to remain it seems obvious that any university student has the intent to remain in Arizona because they’re registered at the university.”

A representative from the Arizona Secretary of State office claims our local registrar of voters has the final say as to who can or can't register to vote in Pima County. But students say they have the Supreme Court on their side and wont back down.

“We are outraged and dismayed over these apparent attempts to discourage student voting,” says Zuccaro. “We will not be intimidated. And we are doubling our efforts in the “Get Out Her Vote” registration activities so that students voices are heard in this election.

Since the voter registration application is a sworn affidavit, officials say anyone caught falsifying information could be guilty of a felony offense. At this time no one has been charged. The final day to register for the November election is October 4th.