RADFORD -- A quick quiz for newcomers to Radford University.

Question: Where is Radford University?

a. Montgomery County

b. The city of Radford

c. New River County

Several voter registration forms dropped off at the Radford registrar's office Oct. 12 said "a" and some even had "c" in the space next to "city/county/town of residence."

But that was the least of the problems Radford voter registrar Tracy Howard encountered when approximately 700 voter registration forms were dropped off at his office the day after the deadline for the upcoming election.

Howard ruled 101 forms invalid because they were incomplete and the validity of nearly 400 other forms are pending further review as the registrar struggles with a state law that gives a murky definition of residency.

Students at Virginia Tech and, more recently, the College of William and Mary have successfully sued for the right to register in their college towns. But registrars continue to interpret it differently while pleading with the General Assembly to clarify it.

While the problems are the most pronounced in Radford, Howard isn't alone as registrars statewide are dealing with forms filed at the last minute by the New Voters Project.

Charlottesville registrar Sheri Iachetta said about 10 percent of the more than 200 forms she received from the New Voters project on Oct. 11 were invalid.

Because they were brought in at the last minute -- along with 300 to 400 others from a campus group -- it is impossible for her to work with applicants to fix the problems.

Despite the problems, Iachetta said discussions with a group official this week went well and she'll be happy to work with them in the future.

The young voters advocacy group made its first visit to Virginia this year and attempted to register 7,035 people in college towns throughout the state.

Ben Unger, the project's national field director, estimated that more than 6,000 of those attempts will succeed.

Problems in Radford put stress on small staff

The first problem Howard encountered was with the timing of the delivery. Because the forms were dropped off at the Montgomery County registrar's office five minutes before the 5 p.m. Oct. 11 deadline, they were accepted.

But Howard didn't receive them until the next day, when Montgomery County registrar Randy Wertz delivered them after sorting through 1,880 forms.

With a staff consisting of himself and one part-time employee, Howard had three days to process the forms.

"They made an awful mess, then they dropped it in my lap expecting me to clean it up," Howard said.

The New Voters Project is a program organized by the National Association of State Public Interest Research Groups. The group has worked on college campuses for 25 years to register students.

The program's national director, Dave Rosenfeld, said the nonpartisan group registered more than 500,000 voters between the ages of 18 and 30 for the 2004 elections.

This year, the program focused on seven states. The group set up bases at Virginia Tech, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia and George Mason University.

Rosenfeld said errors are inevitable when you register thousands of people, but with the exception of Radford, the incidence of errors was not unusually high.

To correct the problems in Radford, the group has told an organizer to work with the registrar until all of the problems are cleared up.

Unger is touring registrar offices throughout the state to discuss the problems.

He said the two major sources for the difficulties were a lack of communication with registrars and volunteers turning in forms at the last minute.

"We had one place where there were more rejections than we would want, but overall I stand by the work we have done here," Unger said. "Overall it's been a really positive experience."

State voting officials hear complaints about tactics

Jean Jensen, secretary of the state board of elections, applauded the quick response of the New Voters Project to address the problems.

She said she started hearing Oct. 11 from registrars complaining about hundreds of registrations being filed just before the deadline.

Jensen also received an e-mail Oct. 10 written by Virginia Tech senior Tim Spencer.

"It is impossible to walk around campus without getting harassed, not bothered, harassed, multiple times by people with clip boards trying to get people to vote," the e-mail stated.

"They have been coming around door to door, on campus and off campus, at all hours of the night, including late night."

Spencer went on to say that someone from the project who visited his place Sunday morning told him that he could register to vote in Virginia even though he was already registered in Pennsylvania.

After looking at the Montgomery County registrar's Web site, Spencer found out that he couldn't register in both states. He asked that the paperwork for the form he filled out Sunday be stopped.

"I feel that I was lied to, and I feel this is very bad policy to get people to register to vote," he said.

Unger said the group doesn't train its organizers to be overly aggressive and does its best to inform them of voting laws.

Radford students who were approached said they didn't feel they were harassed but did feel they were misinformed about what information was needed to register.

Wertz and Howard wondered if organizers or volunteers were being paid based on the number of registrations.

"Absolutely not," Rosenfeld said. "We're philosophically opposed to that kind of system."

He added that the five organizers stationed in the state, plus some part-time employees already working for the organization, were the only people paid for the project.

New voters have until Tuesday to fix problems

Howard sent postcards to students who listed post office boxes or dorm addresses as their place of residence.

The cards ask them to contact his office to clarify their legal residence. He contacted about 50 of them by e-mail and another 50 by phone.

The remainder must contact him by Tuesday if they want to be eligible to vote in Radford on Nov. 8.

While the "New River County" entries were evidence that the people filling out the forms were either new to the area or outsiders, Howard said he didn't rule those forms invalid.

What has caused a problem is the various interpretations of state law that gives registrars no hard and fast way to define residency.

State law says that consideration may be given to factors such as financial independence, residence of parents, income tax purposes and motor vehicle registration.

As time-consuming as it is, Howard believes that state law compels him to take each of the forms with dorm addresses on a case-by-case basis.

For instance, one student to whom Howard spoke explained that he just got out of the military and considers his on-campus housing his home. He is now registered as a Radford resident.

"What we need is a black-and-white list that supposes, 'These are the ties to the community that make you a resident,' " Howard said.

Similar problems surfaced 20 years ago

The state law, which Howard calls "the last of the Jim Crow laws" caused problems in Montgomery County in 1984 when Virginia Tech student Ann Marie DiGregorio successfully sued the registrar's office after being denied the right to vote.

The question resurfaced with Wertz's predecessor in 2002. He allows registrations with dorm addresses.

Out of 786 forms he received from the New Voters Project, he ruled only 15 or 20 invalid for lack of information. Iachetta in Charlottesville also accepted dorm addresses as permanent residences.

"We allow them to make the decision themselves," Iachetta said. "If they consider their dorm room where they spend more than half of the year their home, so be it."