Representative Gregory Sorg (R-New Hampshire) apparently thinks that college students should be restricted from voting in their college towns, and said that our votes compromise the local constituents’ votes, which (because of us) are “diluted or entirely canceled by those of a huge, largely monolithic demographic group … composed of people with a dearth of experience and a plethora of the easy self-confidence that only ignorance and inexperience can produce.”
Clearly this won’t be the case for every student, but I personally genuinely care about my college town (which I’ve called home more often than my hometown in the last two years) and I don’t see myself as having “youthful idealism,” as Sorg described U.S. college students (all 12 million+ of us, according to the Census Bureau).
Sorg is the sponsor of a one of the new voting measures that the New Hampshire House Republicans are trying to pass. The New Hampshire bills would:
- Permit students to only vote in their college town if their parents had permanent residency there (otherwise they must vote in the N.H. town or state they come from).
- Another bill would end Election Day registration.
New Hampshire isn’t the only state pushing for stricter voting practices.
North Carolina and Wisconsin (already restless in the political sphere) are just two of 32 states trying to make voters show a valid state ID at the polls. Passports can be used, but restrictions would be placed on allowing student IDs as a valid form of identification.
Implications of proposed voting bills
For towns or states that are generally known for being “swing,” the difference between having university students vote or not could be a game-changer in local elections. For example, in the 2004 election between John Kerry and George W. Bush, Kerry won Wisconsin by a mere 11,000 votes. With the University of Wisconsin hosting 17,000 out-of-state students, it could have easily altered the results had they not been able to vote in that state.
Election Day registration currently helps push college students to the polls – eliminating this could limit the number of young voters. “It’s a war on voting,” said Thomas Bates (quoted in the Washington Post), vice president of Rock the Vote, a youth voter- registration group. “We’d like to be advocating for a 21st-century voting system, but here we are fighting against efforts to turn it back to the 19th century.”
Requiring voters to present state-issued IDs could be problematic for many voters. In North Carolina, more than 500,000 voters show no record of having a state-issued ID, and by forcing them to purchase one, this could essentially be seen as a poll tax.
The “state ID only” measure could also affect military personnel temporarily residing in the state.
The reasons for the residency voting bill are to combat fraud, according to New Hampshire House Speaker William O’Brien, by eliminating the possibility of voters being eligible in more than one place. Opponents say that this is a weak argument – one that is simply an excuse to weaken the Democratic voting bloc.
Regardless of party line, these measures will affect the 18-24 year-old voters in the states debating the current voting laws.
Are you at risk for having your voting rights limited? Contact your Representative to tell them what you think!
Sources:
The Washington Post
U.S. Census Bureau