Student Claims Voter Intimidation At Kochville Township Hall

By Sara Kitchen

An SVSU student leader says some of the more than 350 students who cast votes at Kochville Township Hall on Nov. 4 were intimidated by election officials.

Kochville Township Clerk Sheila Hill, however, says such claims are untrue.

SVSU Student Association Parliamentarian Jeremy Jones was one of several student leaders who organized free transportation using University vans to take students to and from the polls throughout the day.

Jones said some students claimed they received inappropriate treatment from election officials and at least one Kochville community member.

“Some students had issues getting ballots to actually vote, and there were just some very inappropriate comments made toward the students about what we were doing,” Jones said. “They weren’t happy with Student Association providing transportation. They were not happy that the students were out there voting, and many people complained that students were there.”

“There were also some reports of voter intimidation,” Jones claimed, “specifically on the students. Students said the poll workers were rolling their eyes at students when they voted.”

While no students were denied ballots, Jones said one student had difficulties obtaining a provisional ballot.

“She had registered in Kochville Township but they didn’t have her on file, so technically she was still registered in Detroit,” he said, adding she had a hard time obtaining a provisional ballot.

Jones says he also had an issue with a Kochville resident outside of the Hall.

“There was one lady, she was yelling at students telling them we should not be voting here because we don t live here…we should be voting where our parents live,” he said.

Hill said, “Jeremy came in, he was a bit rude, and he said some of my inspectors were harassing the SVSU students. So I said OK I will take care of it if there was a problem. And I had been going up and down those stairs all day long checking out students who were not on the poll list.”

“After he left, I went up and I spoke to each one of my inspectors,” Hill continued, “whom all have been inspectors, except for three, for a long time, and they go to training all the time.”

Hill said no student reported voter intimidation. “Other than Jeremy, no one came and complained to me,” she said.

Lyle Brewster, a Kochville Township resident served as the Republican challenger, a position that includes making sure voters are properly registered. If something isn’t right, “we have a right to challenge it,” he said.

Federal law prohibits the display of partisan symbols within 100 feet of voting locations.

Brewster said Jones wore a Barack Obama T-shirt.

“I asked him, ‘How can you be using this van and bringing these students here with an Obama t-shirt on?” Brewster said. “That is illegal, because even the state will tell you basically that you can transport people, but you’re not supposed to tell people how to vote, and he was trying to tell people how to vote by wearing that T-shirt.”

Hill said, “We asked him to go outside and turn his t-shirt inside out and all he could do was yell at us and say ‘I want to talk to you. I want to talk to you.’ And I said, ‘I will after you change your T-shirt.’”

Jones said he was not aware of the law and cooperated when he was informed.

Brewster said he noticed another student who wore an Obama pin.

“The [inspector] said you can’t vote with that pin on, and the girl said, ‘OK whatever,’ and she put it in her pocket. I don’t think students know what the rules and regulations are,” he said.

Regarding SVSU students registering to vote in Kochville Township, Hill said, “It’s fine. In fact, when I found out they were registering, I ordered extra voting booths,” she said. Hill said she made sure an up-to-date poll book was available.

Hill said students did not have trouble obtaining ballots, “but there were many of them not registered, and if they were registered, they were registered in a different community. A couple of them we sent to Saginaw Township and to the city where they were registered to vote, but no one was refused.”

“I think that when a lot of theses students got registered here, they put their home address down,” Brewster said.

Brewster and Hill said a few students weren’t sure how to complete a ballot.

“I saw about three or four of them where the students said ‘I need a new ballot because I goofed up on this,’” Brewster said.

While several SVSU students registered to vote on campus through campaign workers, Hill says her staff and inspectors, “did not come to the college to register students. Some [students] felt that because they weren’t registered, it was our fault, and it wasn’t because I don’t know who came [to SVSU].”

“It’s not that they shouldn’t be registering or that they shouldn’t be voting,” Hill said. “That’s not how I feel. They should register and they should vote.”

“That is a privilege, to vote,” Brewster said. “If you don’t take the privilege to vote, that’s your responsibility. It’s not the township’s job to go around and ask everyone to vote.” Despite Jones’ experience, he wanted to thank the Kochville community members who were supportive of students voting.