RTV: Major trouble at VTech poll station
BY: TONY ROMM
Already, young voters in Virginia have experienced difficulty at state polls, including a last-minute registration problem at Radford University, which we reported earlier today. Additionally, monitors from Rock the Vote, a non-partisan youth voting advocacy organization, have observed significant trouble in Blacksburg, Va., the home of Virginia Polytechnic University. According to Taylor Royle, RTV’s press contact (who forwarded me the official press release):
“More than 5,600 people, mainly Virginia Tech students, are registered to vote at precinct E1 in Blacksburg, Virginia (Montgomery County). That number is nearly double what the state law allows for polling stations and the lack of an additional polling station is causing substantial delays. In addition, the polling place is 6.5 miles away from campus at a tiny church located off the main road. There is no street sign marking the turn off to the one lane road. There are 30 parking spots for the thousands of voters expected to turn up at precinct E1. This problem is one of many student voters have faced in Blacksburg during this election.”
Royle said that Rock the Vote has already started the appeal process, hoping to convince the Governor’s office to extend polling hours across the state. But, she added, it does not change the fact that “they should have opened an additional polling station before Election Day.”
UPDATE (4:19 p.m.): RTV initially reported that students, unable to walk the 6.1 miles to the closest polling station, tried to drive there instead. Unfortunately, that method of transportation proved equally unfruitful; there is only one available parking lot at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, the site of this polling confusion. As a result, RTV (and other organizations) have taken to busing interested voters to the polling site, which has significantly reduced traffic in the area. More updates as they come.