Civil rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit in Virginia alleging that state and local election officials are unlawfully rejecting student voter registration forms because they lack dormitory names, room numbers or campus mailbox information — details that the groups say are both irrelevant and discriminatory.

The NAACP Virginia State Conference and co-counsel Advancement Project lodged the suit — titled NAACP Virginia State Conference v. John O’Bannon et al. — in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

They contend that multiple jurisdictions across the Commonwealth are denying or delaying registrations from college students who live on campus because they did not include extraneous dorm room information that does not appear on Virginia’s official voter registration form. 

A spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Elections said the agency “does not comment on pending litigation.” 

Students’ rights at the ballot box 

“This is a clear attempt to rob students of the right to vote in a state where they study and potentially live once they graduate,” said Anthony Ashton, senior associate general counsel for the NAACP. 

“Virginia’s own voter registration form does not ask for dorm room information, and federal law makes clear that immaterial omissions cannot be used to deny eligible citizens their right to vote. These practices are discriminatory, unlawful, and must stop immediately.” 

The complaint asserts that by rejecting registrations for missing dorm-specific details, election officials violate the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. 

Among the campuses cited in the filing are Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, George Mason University, James Madison University, Old Dominion University, the University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University. 

“Virginia’s college students represent the next generation of civic leaders, and their voices matter,” said the Rev. Cozy Bailey, president of the NAACP Virginia State Conference. “When barriers are placed in front of young voters, it sends a message that their participation is not valued. We will not allow unnecessary obstacles to silence students who are eager to do their civic duty.” 

John Powers, legal director of the Advancement Project, added that thousands of young voters on Virginia college campuses “want to make their voices heard in this year’s elections, but too many of them are at risk of being disenfranchised by Virginia policies that are restricting students’ access to the ballot.” 

Powers demanded that “the barriers that infringe on their right to vote” must be removed. “Ensuring equal access to the ballot box for Virginia’s students is not only a matter of fairness, it is required by federal law and the U.S. Constitution.” 

The lawsuit arrives amid broader national concerns about student voting access and efforts by rights groups to challenge state policies that impose unique hurdles for younger voters. 

A recent analysis from the Brennan Center for Justice found that college students have long faced obstacles such as residence address challenges and campus mailbox issues. 

In Indiana, for example, a federal court last month refused to dismiss a challenge to a law that restricted student voter IDs, concluding that students alleged a plausible claim under the First, Fourteenth and Twenty-Sixth Amendments. 

In Virginia specifically, election rights advocates have previously warned that local registrars were rejecting students listing university addresses without further proof of residence. 

What the plaintiffs seek 

The NAACP Virginia State Conference and the Advancement Project ask the court to block Virginia election officials from rejecting student voter registration applications solely because they omit dorm-specific information like room numbers or campus mailboxes. 

Their goal is to guarantee that students may register using their valid campus addresses without facing unnecessary impediments beyond the November election. 

The Virginia Department of Elections has yet to publicly explain its policy rationale for requiring or accepting rejection of registration applications missing dorm-specific data. Meanwhile, the lawsuit places local registrars and state oversight squarely in the legal spotlight. 

For students across Virginia, the outcome of the lawsuit may determine whether simply listing a campus address without extra dorm details is enough to secure the right to vote — or whether bureaucratic minutiae will continue to stand in the way of civic participation. 

This story originally appeared in VirginiaMercury.com.