A resolution passed by Arizona State University’s Undergraduate Student Government Downtown aims to increase voter turnout among college students. USGD hopes this latest action will initiate a statewide push to allow the use of university and community college IDs during voter registration.
Senate Resolution 4, “A resolution to support legislation to allow for Student IDs to be used to register to vote,” passed unanimously at Friday’s senate meeting.
USGD President Corina Tapscott said she wants to reach out to other universities’ student governments and Arizona state legislators to continue the efforts.
“Now we will start reaching out to specific legislators we have communicated with in the past,” Tapscott said. “We also want to see if we can get other Arizona student governments to pass similar legislation.”
However, even if USGD builds support and attracts legislators, specific aspects of Arizona voting law could present a barrier.
Ryan Boyd, USGD Vice President of Policy, admitted to possible complications.
“This will not be a simple pass at the legislation,” Boyd said. “The only way you are going to change this law is with a statewide vote to overturn it.”
The USGD resolution was specifically written in reference to Arizona Propositions 200 and 105, which establish and protect voter initiatives.
Prop. 200 established the current voter ID requirements. Prop. 105 means that Prop. 200 cannot be changed without either referendum or a 3/4 majority at legislature (the latter only applicable if the change “furthers the original purpose” of voter initiatives).
Because voters passed these initiatives, Arizona law prevents alterations to the ID requirements, except when the alteration furthers the original purpose of the proposition. Even then, the legislation would have to pass with a 3/4 majority.
USGD plans to circumvent these obstacles by supporting direct referendum to change voter registration ID requirements.
USGD Director of Legislative Affairs Nathan Brodie said the acknowledgement of the legal context presented in the resolution was inspired by a similar initiative from The University of Texas at Austin in 2014.
“UT Austin had put together a bill to send to their legislature … (that) motivated us to really understand Arizona’s voter registration laws,” Brodie said.
UT’s initiative to allow student IDs for voter registration was a response to Texas laws imposing stringent ID requirements. The UT Austin student government filed a formal letter with the UT System’s Board of Regents, which was approved and recognized as a priority of the university.
In 2015, four Texas legislators put forward legislation about student IDs for voter registration. It was presented in both the Texas House and Senate.
UT Austin’s senior administrative associate for student government, Becky Carreon, is unaware of any tangible impacts the legislation has brought so far, despite momentum in the beginning.
“We haven’t seen any actual results so far,” Carreon said.
ASU Downtown is the first Arizona campus to push an initiative proposing this concept. USGD hopes to spearhead the efforts and support moving forward.
Contact the reporter at csmannin@asu.edu
