Fox-11 News in Tucson, Arizona released a statement on Friday in response to demands from the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) and University of Arizona Network of Feminist Student Activists (NFSA) that the channel issue a correction after reporting erroneous information about student voting eligibility. On August 31, Fox-11 News at Nine reporter Natalie Tejeda suggested during an on-air report that University of Arizona students were committing an “unintentional felony” by registering out-of-state students during a Get Out HER Vote event on their campus, which was organized by the NFSA, an affiliate of the Feminist Majority Foundation. The statement released by Fox-11 was billed as an update, not a correction, and it stressed that the station has no connection to the Fox News Channel, a news source known to be conservative. The station also denied the allegation that there was any intent to intimidate potential student voters. In Friday’s statement, Fox-11 did attempt to clarify voter registration eligibility, using information from a press conference held by Kelly Kraus and Juliana Zuccaro of the NFSA, as well as information released by the Pima County Registrar of Voters. The Pima County Registrar of Voters previously claimed that it was Fox who misinterpreted Chris Roads’ comments, the state official initially interviewed. However, Fox-11 emphasized that it was Roads who misspoke, and not Tejeda, the station’s reporter. The station expressed confusion over contradicting statements that have been released by Roads and his boss, Ann Rodriguez. Kathy Spillar, who has been leading the Feminist Majority Foundation’s charge to protect the student vote in Arizona, said “The Secretary of State’s office continues to put out erroneous information even to this day.” Though the national press was slow to report on the problem of student voter suppression demonstrated by the events at the University of Arizona, several publications have since picked up the story, including The Nation and the New York Times. LEARN MORE about the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Get Out Her Vote campaign DONATE to the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Get Out Her Vote campaign
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