http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2345807 Jan. 9, 2004, 10:16PM Deal set in Prairie View A&M voting dispute DA will `affirm' students' rights By TERRY KLIEWER Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle HEMPSTEAD -- Waller County District Attorney Oliver Kitzman will "affirm" the voting rights of Prairie View A&M University students in a letter and personal appearance as early as next week, according to a deal U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said she made with the prosecutor Friday. But signs afterward were that the two sides may not yet agree on what Kitzman will affirm. Jackson Lee said she understood that Kitzman will concede officially that Prairie View students can vote on campus in local elections if they choose to. Kitzman said he still questions whether students can vote at the campus unless their official residence is there. But both sides did agree that Kitzman will produce a letter and make a visit to the predominantly black campus "as soon as possible." The meeting could occur as early as next week in anticipation of a student voting-rights rally and march planned for Thursday, the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat, said she hopes the agreement is the first step toward defusing a controversy that has drawn unfavorable state and national attention to Waller County and stirred uneasiness on the Prairie View campus. "I'm cautiously optimistic but gratified by the steps we made" during a two-hour meeting in Kitzman's office, Jackson Lee said. "This is the start of a long journey." The flap arose two months ago when Kitzman sent a letter to the Waller County election administrator advising that Prairie View students do not automatically qualify as county residents for voting purposes. Since then, a coalition of minority leaders, eventually including Jackson Lee and state Sen. Rodney Ellis, have joined in the effort to oppose the district attorney. Kitzman, a Republican, said after the meeting that his willingness to write a letter and visit the campus doesn't mean he has abandoned his view that Prairie View students aren't automatically qualified to vote in local elections. He said he will maintain his argument that students' place of residence isn't simply a matter of their choice at the time of voter registration. He said he believed Jackson Lee and Ellis, who joined in the short-notice meeting, understood he isn't capitulating. "They listened and understand that my concern is to clean up elections in Waller County through a better definition of residency," he said. "They didn't necessarily agree with my view on that subject." Kitzman's remarks after the meeting did not jibe exactly with what Ellis said he expects. "My understanding is that his letter will state that students can vote where they choose to make their residence," the Houston Democrat said. Said Kitzman, "I agree students have a right to vote where they live, but there's some question as to where their legal residence is." Authorities, including the state's chief election official, Secretary of State Geoffrey Connor, have said Kitzman is mistaken in his challenge to the established practice in Texas of allowing college students, like other transient residents, to choose where they want to vote. Official opinion letters from Connor and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott stating that students can vote where they attend school are expected in coming weeks. Ellis said Kitzman's agreement to issue a letter and to visit the Prairie View campus to make what Jackson Lee called "a pronouncement" about student voting is important because it will help to dispel student anxiety over the issue. "There has been a measure of intimidation in this, whether that was intended or not," Ellis said. Ellis said he will join in the rally and march, which organizers hope will draw as many as 4,000 students from the Prairie View campus to the Waller County Courthouse. He said students at Texas Southern University in Houston, another predominantly black campus in the Houston region, are being invited to participate. The rally is intended to emphasize the state's long-established position that, as Jackson Lee put it, "students have the right to vote where they attend school. That's well-stated law at both the state and federal level." She said she didn't see Kitzman's agreement to write a letter and make a campus appearance as a retreat or surrender on his part: "I'd like to think it's compliance with the law."
Went to the march today. Seemed like about a thousand people, but that's a big number when you consider it was a seven mile march (PV campus to Waller County Courthouse) and raining. It was pretty cool. What I especially thought cool was that there were lines of students registering to vote. I think it is safe to assume that most of these students would not have voted had it not been for the DA trying to take away their rights.
Hmm, there seems to be no problem for Students at A&M in College Station to participate in local elections, hell I know a student who ran for office.
Clearly the rule is that students can register where they go to school and vote there. The Texas Secretary of State says so, the Attorney General of Texas says so. Unless a specific Legislative action comes along or a specific court decision comes along, the guy in Waller County is wrong. There was a case a couple of years ago in Polk County regarding people whose only residence is a Recreational Vehicle. I'm not sure how that one turned out.
This issue has been going on for years in Waller County. It is a racial thing. An African American woman friend of mine won election to DA of Waller County about 15 years ago, based on support from the students at Prairie View. The local rednecks went wild and eventually much trying managed to force her out on some minor charges. This is a continuation of the same sort of thing.
