By: Beth Wallach
A number of voter registration forms, filled out last spring as part of an Advanced Placement government class project, were never received by the Nassau County Board of Elections. Carol Burris, the school's principal, sent out letters signed by Richard Angler, the teacher who organized the drive, to every senior who graduated, informing them that they were ineligible to vote in this election. Burris estimated the number of students affected by the error to be around 25, but since she did not know who registered in school last spring, she felt that all students in the class needed to be notified. Dr. Burris, who is still in the process of collecting all the facts, said the cause was "pure human error."
Dr. William Johnson, South Side's superintendent of schools, told a daily Long Island newspaper that the district is taking steps to ensure that something like this won't happen again, and that Angler would not face disciplinary action. Johnson was quoted as saying, "It's very embarrassing, very painful, and runs totally contrary to everything we believe about getting our students to be responsible citizens."
After school officials contacted the Board of Elections on Monday, they spent hours on the phone, contacting the affected students and detailing the options open to them. Those options included going to their local polling places and casting their votes on paper ballots, which will be counted only in the event of a close election. Another option was to go to the Board of Elections in Mineola and plead their case in front of a judge who was aware of the problem.
While these options were reasonable for local students, there were no such options for students whose original registration forms were lost and who could not get back to Rockville Centre in time to vote. Marcia Talesnick, whose son, Alex, attends Tufts University, near Boston, said her son wouldn't be able to get back home on Tuesday.
While the letter sent by the school informed some parents and students about the mishap for the first time, others got wind of problems with the missing registration forms a few weeks before the letters went out. Jacqueline Nolan, a freshman at Adelphi University, in Garden City, was talking to friends online when she heard the news that she might not be eligible to vote. Her mother, Arlene, who heard some rumblings at South Side's Homecoming last weekend, was told by school officials when she called that "it was an oversight."
Adelphi, according to the Nolans, had a massive voter registration drive, but Jacqueline didn't sign up, thinking she was already registered. By the time she found out she wasn't, the Oct. 8 deadline for New York state registrants had passed. She was relieved to find out, however, that she would have the option of casting a paper ballot or appealing to a Board of Elections judge.
Roseanne Trentacoste's son, John, a freshman at Cornell and South Side's senior class president last term, had a similar experience. Feeling that school officials are being less than forthcoming, the elder Trentacoste believes they should have been aware of the problem earlier. Like Jacqueline Nolan, John Trentacoste missed an opportunity to register at school. When his mother called to inform him he would now be able to vote here, he hopped on a bus and a train and got home around 1 a.m. Tuesday.
While not minimizing the impact the slip-up has had on the students, Burris said, "Social studies teachers are good people. They care about the kids and work hard. Sometimes they have a lot on their plate ... This was not done deliberately, and everyone feels awful." Johnson reportedly said, "[Angler] feels the worst probably of anybody, including many of the students."
William Mottschwiller, who attends Syracuse University, was another one of those affected by the loss of the registration forms. According to his mother, Beth, he plans to plead his case in Syracuse. "He's very disappointed, as are we," she said. "Thank God we're not in a swing state."
Comments about this story? RVCeditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 285.
