Nicole Robinson

Senior Mark Norris made a trip to City Hall, 203 S. Farwell St., Wednesday morning to vote early in the 2004 presidential election.

While Norris had registered in Eau Claire before, his address since that time has changed, so he re-registered through the New Voters Project and put his new address on the form.

After a 20-minute wait, he approached a poll worker who asked him to verify his address. When he told her, however, she was unable to find it. There was no record of his address anywhere, Norris said.

“I thought I had registered with the New Voters Project, but (City Hall) didn’t have my new address,” he said. “I was on their list, but it was my old address.”

Norris may not be the only student to have difficulty voting either early or on Tuesday.

Eau Claire City Clerk Donna Austad said she has received many registration forms via mail from the New Voters Project state headquarters in Madison, and many didn’t include ID.

“We accepted the registration,” she said, “but we needed to have a copy of their identification with the registration.”

Austad said the people on the forms without a photocopy of a government-administered ID (such as a social security card or a driver’s license) were sent postcards to notify them of the error.

The New Voters Project is a non-partisan effort designed to help increase voter turnout among 18- to 24-year-olds, according to its Web site.

At the start of the semester, the New Voters Project accepted volunteers to help get students to register to vote, said senior Erin Mackley, a New Voters Project volunteer.

Carol Schumacher, an elections specialist for the city clerk’s office, first deputized the volunteers to allow them the right to register voters, Mackley said. After that, volunteers handed out registration forms on campus in the following weeks, she said.

“They (students) had to put either their driver’s license number on there or their social security number,” Mackley said, “but we didn’t have to see any form of identification.”

If students didn’t put their ID numbers on the form, she said, the city clerk’s office most likely would call them to clear things up.

Ben Smith, a New Voters Project coordinator, could not be reached for comment after repeated phone calls.

Schumacher, who also trained the volunteers, said she told each one they had to check IDs to verify people’s identities.

Tuesday, Schumacher said, there weren’t many problems with students coming in to vote early. All of them were registered, came in and voted, she said.

When informed about Norris’ registration problems, Schumacher said mistakes like that can happen when so many people are registered.

If someone isn’t fully registered to vote in Eau Claire, Austad said, he or she should bring a photo ID to City Hall and fill out another form.

After resolving his problem, Norris said he appreciates what the New Voters Project is trying to do, but added they need to be more careful.

“(The project) is definitely a good idea,” he said, “but if they’re not doing it properly, it’s kind of a waste of everyone’s time.”