Students defend right to vote
State Sen. Matthew Houde ’91, D-Plainfield, discussed the constitutionality of House Bill 176 in Collis Common Ground on Thursday.
By Diana Ming
Published on Friday, February 18, 2011
With New Hampshire House Bill 176 — legislation that would prevent college students from voting in New Hampshire’s state or local elections — set to have a hearing before the House Election Law Committee on Feb. 24, Dartmouth students are mobilizing in efforts to oppose the bill. Students spoke of the unconstitutionality of the legislation, at a student-planned event — which featured presentations by State Senator Matthew Houde ’91, D-Plainfield, former Democratic U.S. House of Representative candidate Anne McLane Kuster ’78 and Republican presidential hopeful Fred Karger — on Thursday evening in Collis Common Ground.
The event brought together several campus political groups, according to College Democrats communications director George Helding ’14. The College Democrats, College Republicans, College Libertarians and Student Assembly, in addition to various other student and Greek organizations, cosponsored the event.
“We had been trying to reach out to as many people as possible and it’s been great working with the Republicans and Libertarians,” Helding said. “This is the first time that I know of in at least four years that all the [political] groups on campus have worked together in anything and it’s really reassuring.”
The collective effort of the political groups and other co-sponsors demonstrates the issue’s importance to students at the College, College Democrats President Sayak Mukherjee ’12 said.
“The fact that the College Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians are united just goes to show that there is a lot of solidarity about this issue across campus,” Mukherjee said. “I e-mailed out to Greek organizations on Wednesday and within two to three hours we had eight new co-sponsors for the event.”
The bill, proposed by State Rep. Gregory Sorg, R-Grafton, changes the definition of domicile, requiring that an individual’s residence for voting eligibility “be the most recent place where he or she as an adult or where his or her parents or legal guardians with whom he or she resided as a minor established physical presence,” according to the bill.
The College Democrats recently created and circulated a petition against the bill throughout various New Hampshire college campuses on Feb. 14. The petition had approximately 500 signatories as of Friday.
Dartmouth political groups have also arranged for students to both attend and testify at the Feb. 24 hearing, according to Helding.
“I’m not affiliated with a particular political group on campus but I care about my right to vote and I’m concerned about local issues,” Will Hix ’12, who will testify at the hearing, said. “It’s unfair to single out a certain group of voters and even if I physically won’t be staying in New Hampshire after graduation, there’s a pretty permanent standing of college students here.”
College Democrats Vice President Chelsea Stewart ’12, who will also testify, said she was excited to dispel myths concerning apathetic and uninformed student voters.
“There are a lot of misconceptions about college student voter behavior and I think it is really important to disprove them,” Stewart said.
Both politicians and students spoke at Thursday’s event, applauding student efforts and openly voicing their own criticisms of Bill 176.
The debate over voting rights is not a partisan issue, but one that affects all Americans, Kuster said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
“The reason why I wanted to come up today was to encourage students to stand up for their right to vote,” she said. “New Hampshire has a tradition of openness and we should continue to promote such civic engagement.”
In her speech, Kuster stressed college students’ potential to exercise real political power.
“Your peers are changing how government works and are changing the world,” she said. “We ought to recognize in New Hampshire how important voting truly is.”
Karger also discussed the importance of college voters and his intent to work with state legislators to defeat the bill.
“Today, the younger generation is much more involved and knowledgeable,” Karger said at the event. “[With Bill 176], New Hampshire lawmakers are saying that they don’t like how college students are voting and that’s just frivolous — we can’t allow that.”
The bill is inherently unconstitutional and prohibits an environment that educates young people to be active in their political communities, according to Houde.
“The purpose of institutions of higher learning is to educate and create leaders, whether in the fields of math, science or even politics,” Houde said. “It seems bizarre that New Hampshire supports and wants [college students] to learn those skills, but won’t let you exercise them.”
Stewart said legislators promoting the bill stereotype student voters unfairly.
“I have heard quotes that say, ‘College students vote with emotions,’ and that we ‘lack life experience’ or ‘vote liberally without base,’” Stewart said. “This is fundamentally unjust.”
Many students who attended the event said in interviews with The Dartmouth that they gained new perspectives on their voting rights and learned of the possible effects of the legislation.
Svati Narula ’13 said the rally made her more passionate about voting rights, and Tyler Ford ’11 said that the bipartisan perspectives presented at the event solidified his views regarding Bill 176.
“Before I had never thought about the philosophical reasons [Houde discussed] of why this bill is wrong,” Ford said. “It was great how there were perspectives from all over the political spectrum here and that we could bring policy actors who are diverse yet really care about our voting rights.”
College Republicans President Richard Sunderland ’11 said in an interview with The Dartmouth that he considered the rally a valuable opportunity to spread awareness about the bill.
“There has been a lot of local and national buzz about this legislation but that doesn’t mean that we have reached every student on campus about it,” Sunderland said. “Our biggest issue is definitely getting the word out there.”
It’s not about denying anyone the right to vote. It’s about skewing the election result in NH. Out of state student who have out of state drivers licenses and out of state legal residences (with parents typically), have the right to vote by absentee ballot in their home state.Or if they live close enough to their home state, the right to return home on voting day to cast their ballot. That’s the issue.
By philip j cistulli on Feb 18 | 7:58 am
Philip, we are not simply defending our right to vote. We are defending the right to vote in our community. Holding a Texas driver’s license does not make me a Texas resident any more than the fact that my parents still live in the Dallas suburb I grew up in. While students are at college, they spend upwards of nine months out of the year there, live in dorms or apartments and pay rent towards the tax on the property where they live, work and pay state income tax on the money they earn they, engage in voluntary community service where they live, and are bound by the laws of that community.
I am passionate about effective governance at the national, state, and local level, and have even testified before a House committee before about ballot access laws in New Hampshire. Although I am not taking classes this term, I still chose to live in an apartment off campus so that I could continue supporting and participating in this community. And now a bill comes before the House proposing to disenfranchise me in the state where I have lived and worked for almost three years? It would be a travesty if those in Concord who ostensibly represent me choose to take away my right to vote in the community where I feel I belong.
By William R. Hix on Feb 18 | 11:36 am
Title should have been: Students defend right to vote twice. LOL
By True taxpayer on Feb 18 | 1:27 pm
While students may feel rebuffed, they are not residents unless they have a permanent address address in New Hampshire. They are not being denied a right to vote but are being directed to vote in the state of their legal residence. If they decide to make NH their home after college and change their legal residence to NH than they are eligible to vote in NH. This is the normal procedure in every other state I have lived in. Again students can vote by absentee ballot in their own state elections so they are not being denied the right to vote.
I support this bill!
By Elaine on Feb 18 | 2:47 pm
Students are NOT residents. If you are paying out-of-state tuition, have a non-NH drivers license and your license plate doesn’t say Live Free or Die – you are NOT a New Hampshire resident and you are not a NH taxpayer. Vote absentee in your real home state. That’s what I did when I was a UNH student but had a permanent residence in MA. You’re stay in NH is the same as renting a room at the Motel 6. Should we give everyone who stays at a NH bed-and-breakfast a NH ballot. NO!
By NH Resident and Voter on Feb 19 | 9:40 am
NH Resident/Voter: (1) no one at Dartmouth pays out-of-state tuition; it’s a private school; (2) NH doesn’t have income taxes, but students pay the same taxes as you do on fuel, tobacco, interest income, utilities, electricity, business profits, etc. (you might want to research your own state’s tax laws before you give your opinion on things); and (3) learn to proofread. Your grammar/syntax is embarrassing.
By NH Voter Needs to Do Some Research on Feb 19 | 4:01 pm
As unfriendly/condescending as the above commenter may be, I want to reiterate what he/she said. Dartmouth students DO pay NH taxes and we ARE a part of the community here in Hanover. The state should value our input. We want to vote here because we live here and WE KNOW NEW HAMPSHIRE just as well as all the other residents.
By Agree with above on Feb 20 | 8:04 pm
Actually, if you have a drivers license from another state, that is the state of your domicile. Name the state you are from and I can show you the law from your state. If you do not have a NH drivers license you are stealing a NH citizens vote. You see, we use the NH drivers license of citizens to pick people for jury duty, one of the obligations of citizenship.
By Ed Naile on Feb 20 | 9:42 pm
I’m sorry, Mr. Naile, but you are wrong. I do not know where the above commenters used to live, but New Hampshire law does not require possession of a driver’s license to achieve residency. Indeed, the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled in Symm v. United States that no state can require a citizen to have lived in that state more than one month before they can vote there. Please read the below from the list of our state’s statutes:
New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated Chapter 21 Section 21:6
21:6 Resident; Inhabitant. – A resident or inhabitant or both of this state and of any city, town or other political subdivision of this state shall be a person who is domiciled or has a place of abode or both in this state and in any city, town or other political subdivision of this state, and who has, through all of his actions, demonstrated a current intent to designate that place of abode as his principal place of physical presence for the indefinite future to the exclusion of all others.
By Just the Facts, Jack on Feb 21 | 12:35 pm
Let them take away the right to vote in NH, but also not charge us property tax, which we pay to the State of NH through our room rent or the hundreds of other off campus houses that students rent out. If they want to charge us property taxes, they better well let us vote.
By I have an Idea on Feb 21 | 5:04 pm
Jack: You have residency and domicile confused. Your domicile is your LEGAL residency. You can reside in a tent, a summer home, an army base, or a campus. But when it comes to voting you need a domicile. You can quote case law but it has nothing to do with a 30 day requirement of residency before you vote here. What we are going to put an end to is dual citizenship/domicile for voting. What state is your drivers license from Jack? I suggest you check the Secretary of State web site from that state and read the law. Check Vermont for instance. They require your drivers license # on the application.
By Ed Naile on Feb 21 | 6:13 pm
Mr. Naile, again you are factually incorrect. When it comes to voting, you do not need any permanent legal domicile in New Hampshire, you only must be a resident. I have no need to check with the Secretary of State for Vermont or any other state, because Mr. Bill has kindly allowed me to vote in New Hampshire, already once during the national election in 2008, and again during midterms in 2010.
By Jack Again on Feb 21 | 11:37 pm
As the parent of a New Hampshire student, I can see why one should get to vote in the state. After all what is little known to the general public is that the CENSUS counts those same students as definite state residents. Funding and representation are appropriated to the state based on numbers that include those out of state students. If a state accepts that funding readily and allows for reapportionment based on that population total, then they should let the students have a say.
By Pat on Feb 24 | 10:27 am