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The Lansing Board Of Education unanimously passed new bylaws Monday that will require voter registration for school district votes.  While reforming the voting regulations has been discussed in past years, it was fast-tracked this year after allegations of voter fraud in last December's library vote.  "It will be handled similarly to a municipal general election," said School Board President Tom Keane.  "The list will already be at the polling place."

The new by-laws require voters to be United States citizens aged 18 or older who live within the Lansing school district.  Voters must also have lived in the district for at least 30 days before the vote takes place.  The school district will work with the Board Of Elections to make sure lists of registered voters are accurate and current.  "The only way to get on the list is to be registered in the general election," said Superintendent of Schools Steve Grimm.  "Or to register with us, or registering on the day of the vote.  But you cannot vote if you register on the voting day -- you're registering for the next election."


Board members expressed concern that there will be some confusion now that the new by-law has been passed.  While there are three ways to register for district votes, registering with the school district doesn't necessarily mean you are registering to vote in general elections.  And board members stressed the need to publicize the new rules so that legitimate voters won't be disenfranchised.

"We need to have a communication plan," said board member Glenn Swanson.  "We've had some discussion about location alternatives.  As soon as possible we should get that finalized so we can spread the word so that we don't have disappointed people come election day.  We should post it all over the place."

"People are going to be very disappointed if they've always walked in and voted," said board member Sandi Dhimitri.  "Now they're going to walk in and get to register, but not vote."

"It's a poor consolation prize," Swanson said.

Dan Pace, a Lansing resident who has most vocally pushed for the change, applauded the new voting rules.  "Getting to this qualified voter registry will help resolve a lot of the issues that we've previously had here in Lansing District Meetings where we've had unqualified voters coming from outside the district to vote for certain issues," Pace said.  "I want to make sure that when we get some of the mechanical procedures that when you do come in and vote some kind of identification must be shown to vote on that day so we know you are legitimately that person."

"This is the policy," Keane said.  "In policy we try not to get to exact procedures at that level of detail."

Grimm said that he would be meeting with Board Of Elections officials to begin working on those specific procedures the next day.  "They're going to take us step by step through how they run it," he said.  "We're hoping to approve some of their people as our board of registration so we can have an identical process."

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