*personal draft authored by hfb for the Fair Elections Legal Network
**viewpoints expressed do not necessarily reflect those of FELN
Just after the launch of a citizen’s veto campaign in Maine to repeal the elimination of Election Day registration, Maine’s Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster pushed for investigation into the voting records of several hundred students under the claim that the students “may have committed voter fraud.” In a press release held on Monday, Webster publicized a list of names of out of state students attending public Maine universities who were also registered to vote in the state. According to Webster, out of state students who vote in Maine are in breach of residency requirements, which he believes is tantamount to fraud.
Webster is fervent in his determination to expose extensive election abuses in Maine despite virtual consensus among officials that the evidence is negligible. As election laws become increasingly politicized, it seems that “voter fraud” as Webster and other Republicans have billed it is simply modern language used to legitimize the disenfranchisement of electoral populations that they deem undesirable. “Voter fraud” has become a catch-all code word used by Webster and others to push for election laws that turn voting rights into a privilege, rather than a fundamental right of all citizens.
In Webster’s opinion, students who pay out of state tuition at their universities “should not vote on local matters.” Citing an election in Gorham, Maine, Webster laments the fact that students paying out of state tuition (whom he terms “out of state residents”) “could have made the difference on who would represent those Mainers in Gorham.” Webster’s comments are dangerous because they reflect a wanton disregard for the constitutional rights of students. Non-students can establish residency in Maine for voting purposes after just 30 days; it would be unconstitutional to apply any additional or restrictive voting requirements on students who spend up to four years or more in their university states, often becoming very involved in local politics.
Student participation in local politics should be encouraged as it is a method of building stronger ties between the students and local communities. In Virginia for example, a young college graduate, Scott Foster ran for city council with overwhelming support from students and won, bringing issues between students and local residents to the fore through a community focus group. Shouldn’t young people be able to vote on local matters and elect their peers to represent them in government, just as older Americans do? According to Webster’s flawed zero-sum analysis, voting rights for the two groups are mutually exclusive, one’s enfranchisement occurring only at the expense of the other.
Webster’s allegations and ardent stance in favor of discriminatory election practices have been marked by an inclination toward exaggeration that borders on dishonesty. He predicates his findings on the conspicuously erroneous claim that students using their discretion in declaring residency for voting purposes are committing fraud. In fact, a 1979 Supreme Court ruling protected students’ right to claim domicile in their university states. Maine’s voter residency requirement is unequivocal on the matter: the law states that “students have the right to register in the municipality where they attend school.” As a former state legislator with more than 30 years tenure, Webster is presumably very familiar with these rulings. Why then is the GOP Chairman intent on limiting student’s access to the ballot?
In the current climate of largely unchecked efforts to suppress voters, it seems plausible that Webster’s criminalization of student voters preludes attempts to push for more statewide election reforms that would further limit the franchise. That Webster prompted investigation just after a people’s veto campaign was mounted to repeal the elimination of same day registration suggests a strategic venture to scale back on the progressive measures that have worked to ensure fair and democratic elections in Maine for decades. Regrettably, students’ voting rights, still in their infancy, are getting caught in the crosshairs of Webster’s attack on fair elections.
