Last week, two judges in Arizona placed an injunction on a two-year-old proposition, making it easier for students to find their way to a polling station.
Judges A. Wallace Tashima and William A. Fletcher, who sit on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, issued an injunction that effectively bars the state from enforcing provisions of the voter-approved Proposition 200.
The proposition dealt mainly with issues of identification, seeking to prevent undocumented immigrants from participating in elections or receiving aid from state programs.
Essentially, the bill required that new voters prove their legal residency in the United States by providing an Arizona driver's license, birth certificate, passport or a few other forms of identification.
All voters would also have to show up to the polling site with identification to receive their ballot.
Not surprisingly, the new requirements have yet to send hordes of undocumented workers back across the border after catching them red-handed while trying to illegally register to vote.
What the proposition did instead was make registering more of a hassle for out-of-state students, among others.
For out-of-state students, the paperwork may have been lost by parents or inaccessible to those who wait until the last minute to register for the elections.
In addition, the Arizona driver's license that could be substituted comes with a price tag of $25 - pricey on a Ramen-and-peanut-butter budget and a veritable poll tax.
While state Attorney General Terry Goddard already placed limits on the proposition with regards to what welfare programs could be affected, the decision by Tashima and Fletcher marks the first time the bill's hotly contested voter components have been overruled.
The injunction is only temporary. Its permanence will depend entirely on the appeal of those in favor of the proposition.
With students already criticized as apathetic members of society, we can only hope the injunction is here to stay. In the meantime, we hope students take advantage of today - the last day a voter can register to vote in November's midterm elections.
