The New Hampshire State Senate voted Thursday to pass House Bill 1566, an act that would make it more difficult for out-of-state college students to vote in New Hampshire.
The bill stipulates that establishing domicile in New Hampshire for voting purposes is the same as declaring residency in New Hampshire for motor vehicle law purposes. Additionally, the bill would require people to notify the Department of Safety of address changes and obtain new vehicle registrations and drivers' licenses within 40 days of declaring New Hampshire residency.
The bill, sponsored in the House by Republican Representative Michael O'Neil, now awaits Democratic Governor John Lynch's signature or veto.
Presently, New Hampshire election law allows college students to vote in either their home state or in New Hampshire by establishing domicile while at college. Under the new law, students who want to vote in New Hampshire would be required to show their drivers licenses and sign affidavits certifying that they claim sole residency in New Hampshire and will not vote anywhere else.
If the bill passes into law, it will affect many transitional voters, particularly college students who have full residency in their home states but choose to claim domicile in order to vote in New Hampshire elections. If they wish to continue to vote in New Hampshire elections, the act requires that they obtain a New Hampshire drivers license and vehicle registration.
New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Kathy Sullivan attributes the bill to efforts by the Republican Party to make voting more difficult for certain segments of the population, one of which is college students.
"It's unfortunate that the Republicans try to win elections by suppressing the vote as opposed to making it as easy to vote and winning the issues," she said.
Sullivan added that students such as those at Dartmouth are targets of those in support of the bill.
"The Republican Party knows that the Democratic Party here has been successful to convince college students to vote for Democratic candidates," she said.
James Merrill, a lawyer for the New Hampshire Republican Party, did not directly address the bill, but stressed his belief that all eligible voters should participate in elections, although it is still necessary to create standards of eligibility.
"You need to strike a balance between encouraging turnout and making sure that the turnout is of people appropriate to vote," Merrill said.
Jenna Sherman '08, who is in a fairly typical situation at Dartmouth, is currently registered to vote in New Hampshire although she remains a full resident of California, where her family resides. Because she shares her parents' motor vehicle insurance, Sherman must keep her license registered in California and as a result would not be able to vote again in New Hampshire under the new law.
"Well, obviously I prefer voting in New Hampshire, since otherwise I would be voting in a state such as California where the vote is definitely going to go a certain way, so I'd rather vote in New Hampshire where I have more of an influence," she said.
The current bill recalls a similar attempt to redefine domicile earlier this year, which would have significantly hindered college student voting in the state. The bill, HB 1547, proposed to count people living in hospitals, group homes and nursing homes as New Hampshire residents, while not those living in hotel rooms, jails and college dormitories. The bill passed in the New Hampshire House of Representatives in March but not in the state Senate.
HB 1566 passed the New Hampshire State House of Representatives in early March before going through the Senate Thursday. If passed by Lynch, the act is slated to take effect September 1, 2006.
