Officials Attend Student Appeal To City Election Commissioners

Under the watchful eyes of several state and city officials, the Cambridge Board of Elections held appeal hearing yesterday for two people--one of them a student--who had been rejected in previous attempts to register to vote.

Among those present at the hearing were Rep. John Businger (D-Brookline), a member of the Ligislature's Committee on Election Laws; James McDaniel, an assistant in the Civil Rights Division of the Attorney General's office; James Caragianes, chairman of the Democratic City Committee; and David E. Sullivan, coordinator of the Cambridge Committee for Voter Registration.

All four members of the Board of Elections were in attendance, but Election Commissioner Edward J. Samp Jr. conducted most of the questioning at both hearings.

The first case was that of Zachary H. Levine, an MIT sophomore, who was told when he first tried to register this summer that he had insufficient proof of legal domicile in Cambridge.

Probing questions

Samp probed Levine on such matters as his driver's license, draft card, income tax returns, back accounts, and future plans. The following are excerpts from their conversation:

Q. "When did you decide that you wanted to make Cambridge your home, apart from being a student here?"

A. "I would say in September 1972--that would be the best answer."

Q. What did you do at that time to make yourself a resident, that you would not have done if you were just a student?"

A. "I find that distinction hard to make."

Q. "To what extent did you move to Cambridge?"

A. "Most of my personal belongings, uh, bank accounts, my driver's license."

Later, Samp queried Levine on his ties to his parents' home in Buffalo, N.Y.:

Q. "Do your parents still live in Buffalo?"

A. "Yes."

Q. "Do you have a place reserved for you in the home there?"

A. "Yes. I'd like to point out that we have an extremely large house, about 14 rooms."

Q. "To what extent are you self-supporting?"

A. (After some figuring with pad and pencil). "About one-eighth."

At the end of the hearing Samp advised Levine that he would be notified by mail of the Board's decision in his case.

The second hearing involved Allegra Printz, whose earlier attempt to register had failed because all the bills relating to her apartment and thus proving her physical presence in Cambridge are in her roommate's name.

Samp told Printz that all she needs is a notarized statement to that effect from her roommate.

Asked for his comment on the hearings after their conclusion, Businger answered "Ridiculous." He added that he has a bill presently under consideration by the House that would establish a uniform set of questions for potential registrants throughout the state.

Businger said his bill would require the person seeking to register to swear "under the pains and penalties of perjury" that he was actually living at a given residence. This would satisfy all requirements of domicile, according to Businger.

McDaniel said the Attorney General's office would "certainly be interested in his report on the Board's procedures, but declined to speculate on what action, if any, Attorney General Robert H. Quinn might take.

Sullivan told Businger and McDaniel that about 50 students have been rejected by the Board of Elections since June and that in his opinion Levine would also fail to satisfy the election commissioners strict residency requirements.

"It's about time the Cambridge Election Commission stopped discriminating against students and register anyone living in Cambridge," Sullivan said.

Dean Epps reportedly has requested the Board of Elections to schedule registration sessions at Lehman Hall and Harkness Commons between October 8 and 12