The Dartmouth

January 16, 2003

GOP Speaker decries student participation
By Samantha Lane

Fearful of their potential power at the polls, a prominent New Hampshire
Republican has questioned the right of college students to participate in state elections.

"It is simply not right to allow college students to have any say in our
elections in New Hampshire," New Hampshire House Speaker Gene Chandler (R) said at a public forum Jan. 9. "If they start voting in elections in a lot of these communities, they can have a big say in what's happening. We need to control that."

The New Hampshire Republican Party's press office confirmed that the party goal is to tighten up election procedures and to prevent students from illegally voting in both their home state and in New Hampshire.

Republicans want to see more stringent proof of residency when students register with the town clerk and they want to make it mandatory for supervisors to check registration and proof of residency on Election Day, according to the NHRP.

Dartmouth Young Democrats President Josh Marcuse '04 dubbed the issue decidedly partisan in nature. "Student impact on election outcomes is enormous," he said.

In recent presidential elections, Republicans have won New Hampshire but lost in Hanover. With presidential elections looming before them, GOP candidates may fear a similar loss in the area.

During last November's voting at Hanover High School, Republican officials sent by the state party challenged the legitimacy of students' New Hampshire residency. They warned that when students vote out of their own state, they threaten the status of their financial aid, insurance claims and income tax returns.

Marcuse dismissed these tactics as outrageous. "The Republican contention that most students are voting illegally is absurd," he said.

While overseeing a voting drive last summer, Marcuse noted that he turned away two-thirds of the students who came to register because their state laws did not allow for such activities.

On Election Day, he recalled that he was on the phone with town clerks in various states confirming that students would not be jeopardizing their
scholarships by voting in New Hampshire.

"For most students, though, registering in Hanover is quick and easy. We
definitely encourage it," said Kathleen Reeder '03, former president of the College Republicans.

During the 2000 elections, the College Republicans registered over 300 Dartmouth students. Last summer, Marcuse's drive registered another 35 and in 2002, approximately 1,100 Dartmouth students registered to vote, he said.

Many Hanover residents have noted in the past that they support the goals Chandler recently outlined, as they are wary of Dartmouth students controlling local politics. Reeder said that she appreciates these concerns.

"We as college students are largely a temporary population in New Hampshire, and
most of us aren't intimately tied into state issues," Reeder said.

"However," she added, "if we choose to register in New Hampshire, it's simply an exercise of our rights."

The New Hampshire Democratic Party has encouraged students to speak out. "The core of what Chandler said is that college students don't have the right to vote in New Hampshire, which flies in the face of our constitution and flies in the face of the fact that college students are taxpayers and active members of the New Hampshire community," NHDP press secretary Colin van Ostern said.

Marcuse and other outraged students said that they are up to Chandler's
challenge.

"Discouraging any legal voter from exercising his or her right to take part in the very essence of democracy is unpatriotic and inappropriate and should be condemned in the strongest terms," Young Democrats member Lucas Nikkel '05 said.