A flyer has been passed out at my child’s college which contains misleading and false information about voting. She is in Maine. Is this happening on any other college campuses?
@Lindagaf, I just heard about this on the radio in Portland! Yikes, that’s scary.
Very. This is at Bates College. Clayton Spencer has sent out an announcement to inform students.
They mentioned USM on the radio.
Wow, obviously more than one college then.
Older thread on voting rules, including links to sites describing the rules in each state:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1907398-if-your-college-student-wants-to-vote-s-he-should-check-the-rules-beforehand.html
My son (a’15 grad) just told me about the fliers. Disgusting. He told me there are a lot of people in Lewiston who don’t want the college students to vote.
The close Senate race is in New Hampshire.
Here’s a link to coverage of the Bates flyers:
http://bangordailynews.com/2016/11/07/politics/fake-fliers-passed-out-at-bates-college-in-apparent-voter-suppression-effort-2/
While the flyers probably are a little too strong in underlining that you MUST do xyz, they are not totally wrong that by registering, you are declaring you are a resident of the city/state where you are registering to vote. When I just changed my registration, on the official state registration site it advised me that as a resident of this state I had 30 days to change my driver’s license and car registration, if I had those things, and would be required to file taxes as a resident of the state (at least for the time I’m a resident).
A parent asked a week or so ago on CC whether his child would lose a state scholarship only available to state residents (using it at an OOS school) if the child registered to vote as a resident of another state. Students do have a right to declare themselves a resident of the state they live in and vote in that state, but there may be other responsibilities of being a resident, including getting a license and registering a car, serving on a jury, and perhaps giving up benefits of the original state.
Too many people think nothing changes when you register to vote as a resident of the new state. You are changing your state of residency. Doesn’t help for FAFSA or instate tuition as those are not controlled by the residency of the student, but other things are.
So does anyone have any idea of how a jurisdiction allows people to vote in the elections that they may legally vote in, but not in the ones that they are not legally entitles to vote in? Where I live, there is no college, but we have local issues on our ballot that I wouldn’t want decided by non-permanent residents.
Except that is not the case in Maine, where the fliers were hung.
But I see the governor has jumped in to agree with you, and the fliers.
Have you read other things that governor has said, though.
Do many states allow college students to register to vote based on their college residence? My kids just voted absentee in our local election.
The Maine governor’s word wouldn’t carry much weight with me. Check an independent source like rockthevote.com
Federal law (a supreme court ruling) allows it in all states. The state can set the requirements for becoming a resident and for registering to vote (being a resident for at least 30 days, registering at least x days before an election, show proof of residency), but anyone who meets those requirements can register as a resident of that state. The new resident then have the responsibility that any resident has (get a state driver’s license, serve jury duty when called, file state income taxes).
Yes, it is the case with Maine. It’s even on the Secretary of State’s website. There is no direct connection between registering to vote in Maine and getting a Maine driver’s license and car registration, but there definitely is an indirect connection. It works like this: by registering to vote in Maine, you are saying that Maine is your state of legal residence (step 1). If Maine is your state of legal residence, than you are legally required to change any driver’s license you have to a Maine driver’s license, (if you want to remain a licensed driver), and you are legally required to register in Maine any motor vehicle that you own that is in Maine with you (step 2).
The fliers made it sound like there was a direct connection between voting and these other things, such that you were required to do these other things before voting or that if you didn’t do them within 30 days after voting your vote wouldn’t count or you would be arrested for vote fraud, which isn’t the case.
Happened on Michigan State’s campus. Absolutely, 100% disgusting.
While I prefer you vote for X than not-X, I believe every single adult citizen should vote and every possible barrier needs to be taken down.
PS: Can share a picture of the fliers if anyone wants it. Can’t seem to find any news articles about it but I have a facebook picture (obviously not allowed here but can PM).
My daughter is an OOS student in a battleground state. When we moved her in and when we attended parent weekend, we were bombarded with students asking us if we were registered. She decided to register in this state and had absolutely no problem voting early.
You can just google this topic and include Bates College in the search. There are a number of articles, including photos of the flyer. I really think this borders on criminal activity. I hope the culprits are caught and prosecuted, if so. Ready for this election to be over.
Really deplorable tactics.