Democrats and Journalists Should Not Advocate Voter Disenfranchisement

I just read a very disturbing piece in the Politico. It appears that both the Clinton and the Dodd campaigns are criticizing the Obama campaign for rallying students to return early to Iowa to participate in the January 3rd Caucus. In effect, what they are doing is advocating for the disenfrachisement of young voters.

David Yepsen, the Dean of the Iowa press corps, stirred up this hornets nest in a blog post, The Illinois Caucus, in which he all but accused the Obama campaign of trying to rig the caucus and privileged the parochialism of "native Iowans" over the rights of young voters - a group often maligned (by Yepsen himself) for their lack of participation:

While it’s legal for college students to register to vote in Iowa to do that, this raises the question of whether it’s fair, or politically smart. No presidential campaign in memory has ever made such a large, open attempt to encourage students from out of state, many of whom pay out-of-state tuition, to participate in the caucuses. No other campaign appears to be doing it in this campaign cycle.

Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama’s campaign, said “we have no intention of doing something here that is in any way illegal or that will raise questions about the credibility of the caucuses.” He said election laws allow students to register and vote where they go to college and that means they can caucus in those precincts as well.

That’s fine but these are the Iowa caucuses. Asking people who are “not from Iowa” to participate in them changes the nature of the event.

Yepsen, who's reporting on Iowa is incredibly influential, even goes so far as to threaten the Obama campaign, promising that any Obama win will be marred by a negative media narrative:

And trying to pack the caucuses with people from Illinois might taint Obama’s showing. Polls show Obama is in a close race with Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. Recent surveys show him with a lead of a few points. If he wins the Iowa caucuses with Illinois votes, his victory would be discounted by his opponents and media people.

Yepsen's comments are particularly outrageous in that just yesterday he wrote a story in which he criticized young voters for failing to turn up at the caucus:

Obama's gained 6 points in the last month and has opened up a statistically insignificant lead over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. That lead looks even weaker when you consider a chunk of Obama's support comes from younger adults, who are notoriously poor caucusgoers. (Only 5 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers are under 25. In 2004, only 17 percent were under 29.)

Aside from the fact that Yepsen violated rule # 2 in reporting on the youth vote, apparently he sees no contradiction in chastising young people for trying to participate with one hand while demeaning their participation rates with the other.

This isn't new though. The media has long been terrible when it comes to accurately reporting on young voters. The real disappointment comes from the Dodd and Clinton campaigns, both of which hopped on the Yepsen bandwagon in criticizing Obama's attempt to encourage Iowa students to attend the caucus:

A Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign official said: “We are not courting out-of-staters. The Iowa caucus ought to be for Iowans.”

Chris Dodd for President Iowa State Director Julie Andreeff Jensen said in a statement on Saturday:

“I was deeply disappointed to read today about the Obama campaign's attempt to recruit thousands of out-of-state residents to come to Iowa for the caucuses. ... ‘New Politics’ shouldn't be about scheming to evade either the spirit or the letter of the rules that guide the process. That may be the way politics is played in Chicago, but not in Iowa."

As far as I'm concerned, this is advocating voter disenfranchisement. These students live in Iowa for at least 9 months a year for 4, 5, 6 years. For all intents and purposes, Iowa is their home, and elections in Iowa affect their lives far more than an election in their "home" state. Pundits like Yepsen celebrate Iowa for it's "retail" politics, and embodying the best characteristics of our democracy. If thousands of young voters want to experience that first hand and participate, it's outrageous for Clinton, Dodd, Yepsen or anyone, to discourage them from exercising their legal right.

No one would ask resident Iowans to take a pledge that they intend to live in the state for more than 4 years before participating in the caucus, and students should not be subject to such a requirement either. Rather than spending their time whining that the Obama campaign is out-organizing them among college students, Dodd and Clinton should get to work energizing their own student base. Young voters already face many barriers to participation that in part account for their lower turnout rates. Rather then erecting more barriers to participation, campaigns and the media should be working to reduce those barriers. Shame on them for doing otherwise.