Krysta Kornack, a student at Grand Valley State University, took advantage of the clerks' deputization program to vote from campus area (instead of driving back to Detroit area), but needed additional help to secure her absentee ballot after the the AG's office said the clerks' program is against the law.

Student Krysta Kornack and GVSU campus

Katie Oxendine, 21, of Sterling Heights, a Special Education major at Hope College in Holland, cares about special education funding and fixing the U.S. economy, but legal wrangling over absentee ballots for new voters had her worried that she might not be able to weigh in on Tuesday’s election because her schedule does not permit her to travel the 182 miles across the state to vote in person on Election Day.

“It’s a little frustrating,” Oxendine told Michigan Messenger. “The whole Rock the Vote campaign going on at college campuses has made it feel really important that younger and first-time voters be prepared to be part of the election,” she said. “I’m confused about why anyone would try to make it hard for students to vote.”

With the clock ticking for would-be absentee voters, Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh decided to try and draw attention to the difficulties facing new voters on Tuesday with a road trip across the state to Grand Valley State University and Hope College to help Oxendine, her sister Jeanne, and Krysta Kornack ensure that they would be able to vote with absentee ballots.

With Sabaugh serving as voter advocate, and with local television stations in tow, the first-time voters gathered at the secretary of state branch office in Holland to show their IDs and qualify to vote absentee. Saubaugh is one of three county clerks who have told Michigan Messenger that they are defying Attorney General Mike Cox on their efforts to help student voters. Last week it was reported that 66 of 83 county clerks had agreed to a plan to help first-time student voters get around a state law requiring that they vote in person. On Friday, Cox’s office issued an advisory saying the practice was illegal.

The issue is politically sensitive because Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is popular among college students while Cox has actively supported Republican nominee John McCain.

The clerks said that an advisory issued last week by Cox’s office is not legally binding. They promised to continue helping students apply for absentee ballots — though some reported scant student interest in utilizing this new possibility.

In a statement Sabaugh said, “Until the Michigan Attorney General says he won’t invalidate the photo ID verifications of students, first-time student voters who want an absent voter ballot should show a photo ID at a Secretary of State office.” She commended her fellow county clerks and Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land for “standing up” to the Cox’s office by continuing to verify IDs for new voters.

“I plan to proceed as usual,” Kent County Clerk Mary Hollenrake, a Republican, told Michigan Messenger. “I want students to be able to vote.”

But Hollenrake added that the only student to attempt to take advantage of the plan turned out to have already been registered and able to vote absentee without further action.

“County clerks are going to continue unless we are given an order to cease by judge,” said Todd Schmitz, deputy clerk to Sabaugh in Macomb County.

The clerks’ plan

The clerks acted because state law requires that first-time voters who register by mail must vote in person. In order to vote via an absentee ballot, new voters must confirm their identity by appearing at their local clerk’s office — a serious obstacle for busy, cash-strapped students who may be living hundreds of miles from home.

Democrats in the House passed legislation to change this, but the legislation has languished in the Republican-controlled Senate.

In an effort to help students, county clerks came up with a work-around, deputizing each other so that students could verify their IDs with clerks where they live and apply for an absentee ballot from their home clerk.

The plan was devised in August, but did not become widely known until last week. And when it did, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop called it illegal and asked the attorney general to intervene. Cox issued his advisory three days later.

Cox’s advisory raised concerns that new voters who took advantage of the clerk’s program could see their ballots thrown out on Election Day.

Krysta Kornack, 20, of Warren, an elementary education major at Grand Valley State University, is one of these new voters.

Speaking with Michigan Messenger after volleyball practice on Tuesday, Kornack said that she went to the Ottawa County clerks office to satisfy the ID requirement and request an absentee ballot after her mother recommended this as a way that she could vote. But, Kornack said, the very same day she took this step, she got a call from an election official in her home county, warning that her vote might still be in jeopardy because of the AG’s letter calling the clerk program illegal.

Over the weekend, Secretary of State Elections Director Chris Thomas advised county clerks that new voters could also meet ID requirements by creating a duplicate voter registration at any secretary of state branch office. This program by the secretary of state branch would “complement” the clerks’ effort, he wrote.

“Any voter who has a Must Vote In Person (MVIP) on their [voter registration] record may satisfy the ‘in-person’ and ID requirements by re-registering at a Secretary of State Branch Office. The voter must provide identification such as a driver’s license, personal identification card or a picture student ID and inform the Branch Office employee that he or she would like to register to vote. The Branch Offices have been instructed to take the registration application even though it is a duplicate … For those of you in college towns you may want to publicize this opportunity. Students should not delay if they are interested in this.”

This would make a new voter technically eligible to vote absentee, but this person would still need to request an absentee ballot from the clerk in the district where she or he is registered.

According to the secretary of state’s office (which did not respond to calls for comment for this story), the clerk must receive the application by 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, for those voters who wish to receive their absentee ballot by mail. Absentee ballots can be obtained in person anytime through 4 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 3, and voters who request an absentee ballot in person on Monday, Nov. 3, must vote the ballot in the clerk’s office.

Voter registration drives have succeeded in registering 98 percent of eligible adults in Michigan, according to the secretary of state’s office, with big increases in college towns, and more than 5 million people are expected to cast ballots in the election.