MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- Several mid-state advocacy groups have joined forces to promote a get-out-the-college-vote campaign for the upcoming presidential election.
The groups are calling the effort “Wake Up and Vote Early” or W.A.V.E. The plan is to get students to participate in a mass, early vote on October 20. Students from Vanderbilt, Fisk and MTSU are already involved in the project.
In an article out today, WMOT reporting partner Sidelines Newspapernotes that WAVE is a response to concerns that Tennessee’s new voter photo ID law will suppress the student vote.
Mary Mancini of Tennessee Citizen Action says that, while the new law allows state photo ID to be used to prove identity at polls, photo ID issued by state universities will not be accepted.
“That’s the only part of the law that is specific about what you cannot use. So it’s very clear in the law that students are being singled out and targeted by this law, making it much more difficult for them to vote.”
Vanderbilt University is reportedly encouraging its out-of-state students to vote absentee in their home states, citing concerns that questions about residency may complicate financial aid requests.