Maybe it was too easy to understand.

That's Sen. Ralph Smith's theory about why his effort to clarify where a college student can register to vote died in a House subcommittee.

"When you're talking with attorneys, they like attorneyese, I think," said Smith, R-Botetourt County. "I've had a couple of bills that were just too plain English for them."

Smith's legislation would have allowed college students to register where they go to school or where they live when they're not at school. It passed unanimously in the Senate, but lost unanimously in the House Elections Subcommittee.

Del. Steve Landes, R-Augusta County, said the subcommittee agreed with Smith's intent, but, "We had another bill that was trying to accomplish basically the same thing."

That bill was sponsored by Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, chairman of the subcommittee. That bill has passed the House.

A similar bill has passed the Senate.

Subcommittee member Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, suggested Smith's bill may have been too limited, dealing only with college students. Other people might have similar situations -- someone who owns a house in one jurisdiction, but has a work contract in another, for instance.

Smith suspects politics may have influenced the subcommittee.

"Since college students tend to vote more on the other side of the aisle than they do on my side of the aisle," he said, "I think politics probably did play a part."

The subcommittee, which voted Smith's bill down 6-0, has four Republicans and two Democrats.

The Cosgrove bill instructs the state board of elections to clarify where a person can register. Radford Registrar Tracy Howard thinks that's not good enough. The board changes with gubernatorial administrations, so the rules may change with them, Howard said.

"I feel like, since the General Assembly continues to refuse to define it, eventually a court will define it," he said.

Last fall, when anyone registered to vote using a Radford University residence hall as their address, Howard sent them a notice called a pending denial, telling them they needed a permanent address to register.

The RU Fair Voter Registration Alliance, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Brennan Center for Justice said Howard was breaking federal law, violating the Constitution, defying federal court decisions and denying students' rights.

Howard says Virginia's law isn't that clear. So he tried to clear it up, helping Smith write his bill.

Howard called the bill's death "pretty unfortunate," but looked for a bright side in the promise of some definition from the state board -- which he says has been ducking the issue for years.

"Any definition is better than no definition," Howard said.