The more than 300 students who registered to vote at the Student Activities Office's registration drive Tuesday night may have saved themselves more trouble than they realized by registering before the Oct. 23 deadline.
Students waiting to register on Election Day are likely to encounter the same headaches that took place at Hanover High School during the 2002 midterm election. Representatives of both parties as well as the state Attorney General's office said there is a good chance they will have teams of lawyers at the polls on Nov. 2, making a repeat of 2002's tangle-ups likely -- and on-site partisan squabbling a distinct prospect.
Two years ago, the state Republican party sent lawyers to the polls to challenge the proofs of residency voters had to provide in order to register. Most same-day registrants were students, and those challenged had to wait on a second line to sign an affidavit swearing New Hampshire their legal domicile. The process took two to three hours to complete.
"It made it a really hard time," said Lee Udy, a Hanover elections volunteer.
New Hampshire law gives anyone the right to challenge anyone else's voting privileges in the state and entitles political parties to "poll-watchers," according to Republican State Committee chair Jayne Millerick. But the law is silent on what constitutes just cause for challenging, said state Associate Attorney General Anne Edwards.
The state Republican and Democratic parties are divided over students changing their voter registration to New Hampshire. The closeness of the election and students' tendency to vote Democratic makes their registration in the state a hot-button issue.
Millerick defended the use of lawyers at polling places to inform students of the legal consequences of changing their domiciles.
Democrats do not see the Republican lawyers' presence as an educational one.
"What the Republicans did two years ago flies in the face of what democracy is about," said New Hampshire Democratic Party chairwoman Kathy Sullivan. All college students living in New Hampshire have the right to vote locally, even if the Republican Party doesn't think so, Sullivan said.
"The long and short of it is there are a lot of rumors and a lot of things people say to scare students from voting," she said.
In 2003, state speaker of the House of Representatives Gene Chandler, a Republican, said that he wanted to limit college students' say at New Hampshire polls.
When asked to clarify on Tuesday, Chandler said he was misquoted.
"I hope every student votes, but they should vote where their residency is," he said.
Millerick said that if a student's residence is in another state, he or she should obtain an absentee ballot rather than vote in New Hampshire. If students insist on voting in New Hampshire, Millerick said, they should register their cars and obtain drivers' licenses in New Hampshire within 60 days of changing their domicile for voting purposes, as required by state law.
The motor vehicles provision is included on voter registration forms because of a bill passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature in 2003.
According to the state Democratic party website for college students, studentscanvote.com, "claiming domicile for voting is not the same as being a resident for motor vehicle purposes. If you claim a residence in another state for any reason, these motor vehicle laws don't apply."
To try to make Election Day go more smoothly this year, the New Hampshire Attorney General's office will be drafting guidelines for town clerks handling registration at the polls, Edwards said.
