CHANGE THE RULES, SUPPRESS THE VOTE: USING ELECTION TIMING TO DISENFRANCHISE STUDENT VOTERS, A CASE STUDY OF 2011’S MEASURE A IN CHICO, CALIFORNIA _____________ A Thesis Presented To the Faculty of California State University, Chico _____________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Political Science _____________ By ©Eleanor A. Cameron-Anderson 2013 Spring 2013 CHANGE THE RULES, SUPPRESS THE VOTE: USING ELECTION TIMING TO DISENFRANCHISE STUDENT VOTERS, A CASE STUDY OF 2011’S MEASURE A IN CHICO, CA A Thesis by Eleanor A. Cameron-Anderson Spring 2013 APPROVED BY THE DEAN OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND VICE PROVOST FOR RESEARCH: _________________________________________ Eun K. Park, Ph.D. APPROVED BY THE GRADUATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: _________________________________________ ________________________________________ MattheW O. Thomas, Ph.D. Diana Dwyre, Ph.D., Chair Graduate Coordinator ________________________________________ Robert Stanley, Ph.D. ________________________________________ Lori M. Weber, Ph.D. PUBLICATION RIGHTS No portion of this thesis may be reprinted or reproduced in any manner unacceptable to the usual copyright restrictions without written permission of the author. iii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my husband, John Anderson and my mother, Carolyn Cameron, in gratitude for their unwavering support. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people I need to thank for the support and encouragement in the production of this thesis. First, I want to give thanks to my great team of thesis advisers: Prof. Diana Dwyre, who pushed me into thinking about how the rules affect outcomes; Prof. Robert Stanley, who gave me great advice and legal resources; and to Prof. Lori Weber who reminded me that not all studies have to be quantitative. I also want to thank the faculty and staff of the Political Science Department for putting up with me, and with a special thanks to Tami Harder- you are missed. A special thank you goes to Bob Mulholland, for making available his treasure trove of election records, maps, and unpublished papers on Butte County elections. This case study would not have been complete with out your assistance. Also to Marisa Brower, the Elections Project Coordinator at the Butte County Office of Elections for answering my questions. Finally, I would like to thank the Office of Graduate Studies and the Graduate Equity Fellowship Program for funding this research. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Publication rights ………………………………………………………………………………………… iii Dedication …………………………………………………………………………………………………… iv Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………………………… v List of Table ………………………………………………………………………………………………… viii List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ix Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. x CHAPTER I. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Making the Case ……………………………………………………………………… 1 Purpose of the Study………………………………………………………………… 2 Background …………………………………………………………………………….. 3 Theoretical Basis ……………………………………………………………………... 4 Why a Case Study……………………………………………………………………… 6 Overview of Thesis…………………………………………………………………… 8 II. Literature Review …………………………………………………………………………… 13 On Democracy ..………………………………………………………………………. 13 Voting and Democracy ……………………………………………………………. 16 Voter Suppression vs. Voter Enfranchisement …………………………. 18 The Youth Vote ………………………………………………………………………. 22 Election Timing Effects on Voter Turnout ………………………………… 27 vi CHAPTER PAGE III. The Case Study……………………………………………………………………………… 35 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………… 35 A Questionable Reputation……………………………………………………… 36 The City and The College…………………………………………………………. 44 Measure A………………………………………………………………………………. 54 IV. Methodology and Data……………………………………………………………………. 58 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………… 58 Test of Sub-Hypotheses…………………………………………………………… 59 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………… 80 V. Recommendations and Conclusion…………………………………………………… 81 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………… 81 Discussion of Findings…………………………………………………………….. 82 Recommendations and Conclusion………………………………………….. 85 References…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 88 Appendices A. Table: Letters-to-the-Editor on Measure A………………………………………. 98 B. Map: City of Chico Special Election Precinct Map……………………………… 106 C. Table: Voter Precinct, Registration by Party…………………………………….. 108 vii LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Intercession Course Registration, 2010-2013…………………………………… 64 2. Top Three Candidates, Chico City Council Elections, November 2010 and Vote on Measure A June 2011……………………………………… 70 3. Demographic Characteristics of Voter Precincts, Ranked by Median Household Income, and Vote For Measure A…………………… 76 viii TABLE OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Percentage of Turnout in All City of Chico Elections, 2000-2012………………………………………………………..…….… 29 2. Percentage of Turnout in City of Chico Elections, Primary and General Only……………………………………………………….… 30 3. Change in Population Demographics, City of Chico….………………………. 61 4. Change in Population Demographics, CSU Chico……….………………….….. 62 5. Change in Percent Minority Student Enrollment at CSU Chico……..…… 63 6. Republican Party Registration Effects on the Vote for Measure A……… 67 7. Democratic Party Registration Effects on the Vote for Measure A……… 68 ix ABSTRACT CHANGE THE RULES, SUPPRESS THE VOTE: USING ELECTION TIMING TO DISENFRANCHISE STUDENT VOTERS, A CASE STUDY OF 2011’S MEASURE A IN CHICO, CALIFORNIA by © Eleanor A. Cameron-Anderson 2013 Master of Arts in Political Science California State University, Chico Spring 2013 There is a perception that university students have an undue influence upon local elections. This thesis studies the history and attitudes of a community with a university in its boundaries while attempting to answer the question: Do communities with a university in their boundaries encourage attempts to suppress student-age voter participation? This thesis breaks the question down into four sub- hypotheses and finds an affirmative relationship between the hypotheses and student-age voter suppression efforts. x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Making the Case University students may be one of the most under represented groups at the local political level. Yet there seems to be a perception that university students have an undue influence upon local elections. This notion—that university students are taking over local governments—started spreading not long after 18 to 20 year-olds were granted the right to vote in 1972. As the literature review will show, the attitude that a newly enfranchised group will overwhelm the preferences of local voters, has been transferred from group to group as the right to vote has been expanded. The attitudes towards voting, and especially who gets to vote, are complicated by the history of voting rights in our nation. Since our founding, there have been conflicts over the franchise. At first voting was seen as a privilege reserved to the landed gentry. It took one hundred years for voting to become a right worthy of incorporating into the Constitution by amendment. It was not until the 20th century that the right to vote was extended to all adults 18 and over, without regard to race or gender. 1 2 The last to be group granted voting rights was 18 to 20 year-olds in 1972. Since then, laws impeding ballot access by university students have been passed, challenged in court, and overturned. However, old laws declared unconstitutional have been replaced in some areas with new attempts to discourage, impede or disenfranchise university student aged voters in the communities where they go to school. As the literature review will show, student voters are a neglected group in the literature on disenfranchisement Purpose of the Study The purpose of this thesis is to show the many factors that characterize efforts to disenfranchise student voters. These factors, I argue, will form the basis for a general theory that can be applied to other communities with university populations. This analysis will delve into a recent attempt by local level interests to change election rules in order to influence who turns out to vote. The attempt, while unsuccessful, was the most recent effort by citizens in this college community to challenge students’ access to the ballot. Do communities with a university in their boundaries encourage attempts to suppress student-age voter participation in a local election? I argue that communities that do attempt to suppress student voter turnout will have characteristics in common: college towns with significant racial, ethnic, and ideological differences between student and non- student residents are more liKely to see efforts to suppress student voting in local elections. In this thesis, I use the 2011 attempt to move the Chico, California City Council election to June as a case study to test this general theory. I will test a set of hypotheses that will help explain why these communities attempt to disenfranchise or suppress the college student vote. I contend that communities who do maKe these attempts will have the following characteristics: 1) the community-at- 3 large will be more conservative, showing a greater preference for political candidates that identify as conservative while student voters will show a preference for candidates that identify as liberal; 2) the community-at-large will be less diverse than the student population; 3) university students will maKe up a critical percentage of the total city population; 4) the university population leaves the community during significant breaKs in the