Voting Rights Roundup: New Hampshire GOP passes bill to suppress college student voters
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Leading Off ● New Hampshire: New Hampshire's Republican-run state legislature has finally passed a long-debated bill that would impose new residency restrictions on voters in a naked attempt to suppress Democratic-leaning college student voters. GOP Gov. CVoting Rights Roundup: New Hampshire GOP passes bill to suppress college student voters
Leading Off ● New Hampshire: New Hampshire's Republican-run state legislature has finally passed a long-debated bill that would impose new residency restrictions on voters in a naked attempt to suppress Democratic-leaning college student voters. GOP Gov. Chris Sununu has long acted as thought he's opposed to the bill, but he has meticulously avoided promising to veto it. Instead, he has asked the state Supreme Court to issue an advisory opinion regarding the proposal's constitutionality, and he’s said he'll sign the measure if the justices deem it valid. Campaign Action At issue is how this bill defines what it means to be a resident for the purposes of voting. Under current law, New Hampshirites only have to be «domiciled» to be eligible to vote—in other words, they just have to live most of their day-to-day lives in the state and offer proof of residency, such as a utility bill. But this proposal would require voters to instead be «residents,» meaning they intend to remain in-state indefinitely, which legally requires them to do things like obtain a state driver's license and register their cars in New Hampshire, both of which cost money. Consequently, this bill amounts to a poll tax on college students who are from out of state but live most of the year on campus in New Hampshire, few of whom are likely to ditch their out-of-state license for a New Hampshire ID or register their car in the state when there's no other compelling reason to do so. Opponents of the law, however, stand a good chance of successfully challenging it in court, since New Hampshire's state constitution unambiguously states: «[E]very inhabitant of the state of 18 years of age and upwards shall have an equal right to vote in any election. Every person shall be considered an inhabitant for the purposes of voting in the town, ward, or unincorporated place where he has his domicile.» Indeed, the state Supreme Court, which has a three-to-two majority of Democratic appointees, already struck down a very similar Republican-backed law in 2015. Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that college students have the right to vote at their school if they live there, giving opponents even more ammunition to stop this new law. Read more