For many Dartmouth students, the 2004 presidential primary season presents a two-fold question: Whom to vote for, and where to cast a vote?
New Hampshire's primary, slated for Jan. 27, is the most-watched in the nation. As the date draws closer, many "out-of-state" students have begun to switch their voter registration to participate, with surprisingly little hassle.
Voter registration drives are ongoing throughout the Upper Valley and Hanover, including one Thursday evening inside the Collis Center. But in a state whose primary is as important as New Hampshire's, election officials do not make light of suffrage. And reading the literature provided by several local voters' organizations may scare some from registering altogether.
The literature warns that by changing one's legal address to New Hampshire in order to vote here, one can face complications to health insurance, car insurance or vehicle registration costs, income taxes, scholarships and grants that are conditioned on remaining a legal resident of a specific town or state, and AAA membership.
Such stringent regulations would seem to deter students from out of state from participating in the voting process, but Lee Udy, one of Hanover's three "Supervisors of the Checklist," reassures voters that it's state-mandated procedure, and not a deliberate obstacle to participation in the election process.
"The regulations are put out by the state as stated on the voter registration form. When you sign the form, you agree to the regulations," Udy told The Dartmouth in a recent interview.
It is unclear as to how strictly the regulations were enforced, Udy admitted, but reading from the voter registration form she noted that anyone with a valid driver's license must change their license to New Hampshire within 60 days of registering to vote. If a person has a car, they must also register that car in New Hampshire.
Despite apparent deterrents, many Dartmouth students have chosen to change their voter registration to New Hampshire. In 2000 and 2002, hundreds officially switched their state residency, largely adding to Hanover's already left-leaning voting record.
But changing residency en masse has had its share of glitches as well.
In 2002's highly-contested Senate race between former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and then-Rep. John Sununu, a Republican Party operation in New Hampshire's college towns made voters wait in unprecedented lines as lawyers questioned the residency status of hundreds of area residents seeking to register to vote.
The additional paperwork and confusion caused by filing special affidavits to confirm in-state residence forced many registering to vote at Hanover's Richmond Middle School to wait in lines lasting at times over an hour.
During the 2000 presidential primaries, Durham, N.H., election officials reportedly discouraged many UNH students from voting when they told out-of-state students that they would lose state-based scholarships if they switched their residencies to New Hampshire.
"If your vote is challenged, it will likely not be counted on time, so it won't count at all," said Matt Slaine '06, speaking on behalf of the Young Democrats organization.
Largely to prevent the long lines and frustrations of Election Day 2002 from happening Jan. 27, an on-campus voter registration drive will take place in Collis from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday.
"You're given a democracy and you're given a free country," Slaine said. "Ten minutes out of your time to register is not a big deal."
Karen Liot, program coordinator for the Rockefeller Center, said that students are encouraged to vote in New Hampshire "if they feel it is their home state."
