Andrew Allard '25
Staff Editor
Pictured: ACS's Voter Registration Tabling.
Photo Credit: Andrew Allard '25.
With Election Day fast approaching, the American Constitution Society, If/When/How, Lambda Law Alliance, the National Lawyers Guild, and the Virginia Environmental Law Forum jointly organized a week-long voter registration drive at the Law School that ended Monday, October 3. The powerhouse team joined together, no doubt, with the strategic objective of increasing registration among a group of Charlottesville’s most likely registered voters. “Why report on it, then?” you ask? Because democracy is cool.
Since last Wednesday, September 28, ACS and company have encouraged students—read: 1Ls gunning for 1L rep positions—to volunteer to help UVA Law get out the vote. This laudable goal is naturally unable to escape the derision of a writer for the Virginia Law Weekly. Armed with the persuasive power of Doritos and Snickers, the motley crew told me that they had succeeded in registering at least ten students when I stopped by to check in on them last Friday.
The voter registration drive’s volunteers were aware of the challenges inherent in getting students at the Law School to register in Virginia. Said one volunteer, Grace Allaman ’24, “It’s kind of hard because Virginia doesn’t have a lot of competitive races right now.” Allaman was sure to note that students can still vote absentee in their home state and that the drive would be happy to help students seeking information on absentee ballots.
Allaman is right to say that Virginia does not have many competitive races for the 2022 election cycle. Neither of Virginia’s senators, nor its governor, will face voters this November, and at press time, FiveThirtyEight indicates that all but two of Virginia’s eleven House races are either solid Republican or solid Democrat.[1] Suffice it to say that Charlottesville is not situated in either of the competitive districts. In all likelihood, Charlottesville, and with it, North Grounds, will reprise its dependable role as a blue island within Virginia’s Fifth District. But for what the Commonwealth of Virginia lacks in contested elections this year, it more than makes up for in bright-eyed law students.
As they left the drive last week, I asked some of Charlottesville’s newest eligible voters what motivated them to cast their ballots here in Virginia. Will Schweller ’25 made the bold decision to change his registration from his home-state and noted swing-vote territory, Ohio. Asked why, Schweller said, “I want to get involved locally, and I think it makes sense. I’ll be here for the next three years. I should be voting here.” Another new Virginia voter, Colby Woodis ’25, changed from his previous registration in Tennessee. Woodis offered a similar motivation—his newfound home in Virginia—for changing his registration. Asked if he thinks other law students should register in the state, Woodis answered, “I would encourage others to do what their conscience tells them.”
In the tit-for-tat world of modern American electoral politics, it’s hard not to admire the commitment to community expressed by Schweller and Woodis. But I would be lying to you, reader, if I told you I fully understood their position. As a native New Hampshirite, I know a thing or two about the joys of being wooed by candidates seeking a leg up in a competitive election. In my first year of undergrad in 2015, it was a no-brainer for me to choose an absentee ballot for my home state over registration in D.C. Sure, I’ve been registered in Virginia for a few years now, but from time to time, I do miss the privileges of voting in the Granite State.
Thankfully, I am in good company. Another new Virginia voter, Tara Chowdhury ’25, offered a more pragmatic reason for her change in registration. Chowdhury, previously registered to vote in New York, explained her decision to switch to Virginia, saying, “I am a lot more comfortable with the politics around abortion rights and trans rights in New York than I am with them in Virginia. My vote and views feel like they would count more in Virginia, and the post-Dobbs panel held this September really highlighted how changing our voter registration to be able to vote in Virginia is a first step in trying to preserve our rights.” Now, that, I can understand! Chowdhury also encouraged law students to register in Virginia, mirroring the sense of community expressed by her classmates: “I absolutely think people should register in Virginia while they’re here—it’s our home for at least three years! We have a responsibility to be bettering our community, and I think voting is a fundamental part of that.” Undoubtedly.
The levity with which I treat this topic is probably unsurprising to regular readers of the Law Weekly. But voting is, in seriousness, a sacrosanct duty we have as citizens and as lawyers. Because we are here, we are—hopefully—more familiar with the workings of government than the average person. We know how the law can help and hurt. We also know that the right to vote itself has recently become a target of some lawyers. So, as much as I joke about the decision to direct a voter registration drive at a group of people that probably have not missed an election since they turned eighteen, the drive, it seems to me, is about much more than getting law students to vote in Virginia. It is a statement from the student body that access to voting is a public good. In the face of efforts to undermine public faith in elections and make it more difficult for some folks to vote, ACS et al. make it clear that they think more voter registration is a good thing. I can’t help but agree. Regardless of where you are registered, be sure to go to the polls this November 8.
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tya2us@virginia.edu