In Alabama, a state with a storied history of voter disenfranchisement, the flagship university is taking steps to make sure all eligible students have the ability to vote, and to do so both fairly and easily.

Starting this year, The University of Alabama is taking steps to eliminate practices that served as voting obstacles for UA students in the past thanks to the efforts of those in the UA community and the Andrew Goodman Foundation.

Students who use the campus mail center and want to receive an absentee ballot can now have the mail sent to them as they would have any other piece of mail: by using the mail center’s address and their personal MSC code. Mail center employees will then visually identify if it is an absentee ballot and set it aside. Students can then pick it up by coming in and presenting their Action Card.

Students will not have to rent a mailbox in order to receive this letter-type mail.

“[The policy change] is restoring democracy,” said Nadia Hussain, director of Vote Everywhere.

As reported by The Crimson White last November, the University’s campus mail center’s policies were an obstacle for students trying to get an absentee ballot. Students are required to pay for a mail box to receive letter mail, something that is not possible for all students. Boxes cost $60 for one semester (fall or spring), $120 for all three (fall, spring and summer), and many students without the means to pay could not receive a ballot.

It had been suggested that students should have the ballot sent to them in a traceable manner, as all traceable mail can be received for free. Other suggestions included electronic voting, receiving ballots at Greek houses or at the house of an off-campus friend and encouraging students to participate in early voting back home.

All of these options were either not realistic for certain students, or added steps that may deter students from voting.

Dana Sweeney, senior English major, found those options to be unacceptable.

“Knowing how hard fought the battles were to ensure that everyone had access to the vote, I think it is absolutely important that we continue to be vigilant in protecting access to the vote,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney, who was nearly unable to vote in the 2014 midterm elections because of the mail center’s policy, has worked hard to get this policy changed.

In 2014 he met with Mike Butts, the director of campus mail services. While Sweeney felt people in the mail center listened to him and cared about the issue he was presenting, he was ultimately left without real solutions.

Things did not start to look hopeful until the summer of 2015, when Sweeney was studying abroad in China. He was researching different resources and ways that he might be able to get the mail center’s policy changed, when he came across the Andrew Goodman Foundation.

The AGF, according to its website, was established to continue the legacy of Andrew “Andy” Goodman who died fighting for equality, voting rights and social justice during Freedom Summer 1964. Sweeney got in contact with the AGF and started working with their Vote Everywhere initiative, which works to register young voters, engage them and to break down barriers that may keep them from voting.

“It is really powerful to be a part of [Andrew Goodman’s] legacy,” Sweeney said. “In 1964 you had all these college students who were trying to get the vote, and now you have all these college students today who are part of that same tradition.”

With the help of Richard Fording, a political science professor, and two other UA students, Norris Davis and Stephen Grover, Sweeney was able to start a Vote Everywhere chapter on campus. The University is one of 42 colleges with Vote Everywhere chapters.

The group was also independently contacted by the Fair Elections Legal Network (FELN), a “national, nonpartisan voting rights, legal support and election reform organization whose mission is to remove barriers to registration and voting for traditionally underrepresented constituencies.” FELN had heard of the problems faced by student voters at the University, and though FELN and Sweeney were in contact, the two never formally started working together.

With the help and guidance of Vote Everywhere, the group developed plans, strategies and a solution to the problem. They suggested the mail center create a MSC code specifically for voting mail that students would use in place of their regular code when receiving an absentee ballot.

The University’s Vote Everywhere chapter brought their plans to the mail center. They said the employees seemed to be concerned. Mail center workers said they were working on developing a solution, but they had no information on a timeline. Mail center representatives expressed concern over the mail center’s business model and felt ballots not arriving on time could be an issue. Once again they suggested alternative voting options.

The group then decided to bring the issue to the attention of the administration. They reached out to David Grady, the vice president of Student Affairs. Since Grady had encouraged students to vote through email communications in the past, they felt he should get a change made.

“We wanted to hold him accountable,” Sweeney said.

Grady said he would look into the issue and periodically updated the group. They continued to email him during the summer, trying prove that this was an important and pressing issue that should be resolved.

Finally, the week before students returned to campus, Grady emailed the group saying the University would be making a policy change so that students would not need to pay for a mailbox in order to vote.

“We made this change because we are trying to make sure all students have the opportunity to vote,” Grady said. “I would encourage students to register and then to exercise their right and privilege to vote.”

Sweeney said he feels encouraged, optimistic and proud of the efforts of his Vote Everywhere chapter.

“We are so excited to see this policy change,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney feels Vote Everywhere was central to creating the policy change. Vote Everywhere said they were able to give Sweeney and the other ambassadors advice, resources and guidance.

“I don’t know that we could have been successful without them,” Sweeney said.

Students at schools in neighboring Mississippi, for example, are experiencing similar problems.

“We brought the best practices, we brought national resources, we brought information, we brought a bigger picture of what’s happening in the country, and what other schools are doing that are positive, what challenges other schools are having that might be similar, as well as strategies and organizing tactics,” Hussain said.

Hussain feels that this campaign was necessary because the old policy was taking away the rights of UA students. She said that, at its very core, it denied democracy to students.

“Every [eligible] U.S. citizen should have the right to vote,” Hussain said. “And when you want to exercise that right to vote…and you get that right denied to you because you can’t get that ballot, that is unconstitutional; it is illegal; it goes against the foundation of our democracy.”

Now that UA students have better access to voting, Sweeney hopes they will take advantage. He encourages every student to vote, especially since millennials make up an ever-growing part of the electorate.

“If we are able to engage young people…we could set the agenda,” Sweeney said. “There are a lot of issues that are being discussed today that are going to affect us for a lifetime. We are the ones that will have to deal with the consequences…and right now young people are not at the table in the way that we could be and should be.”

For students that plan on voting via absentee ballot, it is important that they research the rules and deadlines for their state, as they vary throughout the country.

“If you don’t have the answers to something – you don’t know how to register or where to register – ask,” Sweeny said. “There are plenty of people on this campus, whether it’s the administration or Vote Everywhere or other student organizations, people will be there to assist you.”

For exact details on how to obtain an absentee ballot through campus mail, students should visit https://sa.ua.edu/resources/student-absentee-voting-guide/.