A table on the University of Mary Washington’s Campus Walk that advertised voter registration while displaying Democratic campaign literature was permitted under the university’s rules, a UMW spokeswoman said.
A reader who contacted Potomac Local News reported seeing the table in front of Lee Hall on Oct. 22. It carried a “register to vote here” banner, and two men were staffing it, according to an email the reader sent that evening to UMW’s director of student activities and the president’s office.
The reader said the table held literature for U.S. Rep. Eugene Vindman and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, both Democrats on the Nov. 3 ballot, along with a large stack of voter registration applications, stickers, and buttons on a blue tablecloth. Photos provided to Potomac Local News show the Warner and Vindman materials. She also noted a small sign soliciting funds for the UMW Democrats.
The reader, who described herself as a longtime Democrat, wrote that she told the men a voter registration table must be neutral and should not carry political literature. She later raised additional questions about whether the table was clearly identified as belonging to the UMW Democrats, whether the group had followed any required campus reservation or student-affairs processes, and how the presence of more than 25 applications related to state training rules for voter registration drives.
Amy Jessee, UMW’s executive director of university communications, said the activity “followed the University’s established process for reserving space on campus.”
“Campus space may be reserved by student organizations as well as individuals and groups unaffiliated with UMW,” Jessee wrote in an email Oct. 28.
“In response to a question about the voter registration activity, our staff consulted with the local Office of Voter Registration and Elections and confirmed that the activity was permissible,” she wrote.
The university did not say who reserved the space. It did not answer questions about its policy on partisan literature at voter registration tables or how the table related to UMW Votes, the university’s nonpartisan voter engagement program.
Fredericksburg’s elections office identified the table as belonging to the UMW Democrats, which it described as an affiliated campus group of the Virginia Democrats.
“A recognized campus party affiliate would have campaign literature for their respective candidates,” the city office wrote in an Oct. 27 email. “It is not uncommon for political parties to have voter registration applications on their tables at community outreach events.”
The office said it has no control over activities at the university or at any other third-party group conducting voter registration.
State law requires any group or individual that requests 25 or more voter registration applications from the Virginia Department of Elections or a local registrar to complete training, the office said. Other groups are encouraged to take the training. The office also pointed to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s definition of a voter registration drive: “An effort by a government authority, political party, or other entity to register to vote persons otherwise entitled to vote.”
Election Day is Nov. 3.
