Making your voice heard

Registration deadline approaches for students to vote for Lynchburg city officials

Liberty University students and Lynchburg City residents have until April 11 to register to vote or update their voter information before the May 3 city council elections.

The Dean of Students Office has been holding voting drives in the Jerry Falwell Library throughout the month of March in preparation for the local election. Morgan Hanson, the assistant director of programming with the Dean of Students Office, has organized many of the registration efforts and hopes that students will recognize the importance of voting in local elections.

“Local elections impact daily life,” Hanson said. “A lot of students stay in the Lynchburg area, and issues that they vote on in 2016 will impact them in 2019 when they are commuter students or recent graduates.”

One more voter registration drive will be held in the Jerry Falwell Library April 6 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Students can also visit the Dean of Students Office in Green Hall 1830 to complete a voter registration form or to update their voter information until April 8. Students with a Virginia driver’s license can also register or update their information at vote.elections.virginia.gov/voterinformation.

According to Hanson, Liberty now has the voter registration software, Turbo Vote.

“Students can go to liberty.turbovote.org to register to vote, update their voter information, and to sign up for election reminders,” Hanson said. “Students who do not have a Virginia driver’s license can complete the online voter registration form with TurboVote, print the registration, and drop it off at the Dean of Students Office in Green Hall 1830 instead of mailing the form into the Virginia Registrar’s Office.

Students registered to vote on campus will be voting to select a Lynchburg City Council member for Ward III. Candidates for the position include Independent Albert “Al” Billingsly, Independent Charleta F. Mason and the current Ward III council member Republican Jeff S. Helgeson.

Also on the ballot is a special election to replace Lynchburg City Treasurer David Thurmon, who retired in October. The candidate elected to fill his position will serve until Thurmon’s term expires at the end of next year. Candidates for the position include Republican Brian Keith Triplett, Independent Robert L. Bailey, and current Lynchburg Vice-Mayor Independent Ceasor T. Johnson.

While Liberty students come to Lynchburg from all over the country, more students have begun taking an interest in the decisions made by the city council and are expressing their views by registering to vote.

“This is where (students) work, spend money, pay rent, buy groceries and contribute to the economy,” Hanson said. “It is important to vote in Lynchburg since a lot of students live here for nine months out of the year.”

The strength of the Liberty student body at the polls has not gone unnoticed. Since students started getting involved in Lynchburg city elections, several policy changes have taken place that will affect the lives of both current and future students.

Liberty students’ participation at the polls also resulted in the construction of the pedestrian bridge over Wards Road and the creation of the new zoning classification Liberty received this past fall.
According to the Lynchburg registrar, there are more than 3,000 active voters currently registered to vote at the Vines Center precinct. However, the Virginia Department of Elections reported that only 1,200 individuals voted in the presidential primary election earlier this year.

Hanson said the Dean of Students Office is working on plans to use voter registration software that will notify students of upcoming elections and deadlines for updating their registration information.

She hopes that by being proactive and keeping students informed, they can encourage improved voter turnout in future elections.

Lapp is a news reporter.