Democracy dangers

Yes, Virginia, there is a confederacy of treacherous reptiles trying to steal the presidential election. After 40 years of Republican dominance, the state of Virginia has been blind-sided by a surge in voter registrants under the age of 25, many of them students with a preference for Obama. How curious, then, that the registrar of Montgomery County chose to issue a press release warning that students from outside the state could lose their scholarships, student aid or standing as dependents on their parents’ income tax should they claim their school address as primary residence when registering to vote.

E. Randall Wertz says his office wanted only “to inform (students) of things to consider,” and all the possibilities the release mentions are laws as he understands them. Sujatha Jahagirdar of the Student Public Interest Research Group says in their quarter-century in operation, no one has “ever heard of a single incident where a student has lost their tax status or scholarship because of where they’re registered to vote.”

When confronted by the Obama campaign, Wertz changed the release, but only in tone. Instead of direct warnings, the new release suggested students ask themselves whether or not registering to vote in Virginia could have any dire consequences.

by SCOTT SAXON