Student Vote Bill: Should Out-of-State College Students be Able to Vote in New Hampshire?

By: Rachel Ford, Keene State College

New Hampshire is home to twenty four public colleges and universities. New Hampshire is also home to 98,918 students between the ages of 18 and 24. And those are just the native students. There are also many out-of-state students who come to New Hampshire colleges and live here for nine months out of the year. If these students are living here for more than half the year, should they be able to vote in New Hampshire?

Currently, out-of-state students going to college in New Hampshire have a choice when it comes to voting: vote in person in the state they’re attending school in, or submit an absentee ballot through the mail to their hometown. Students who choose to vote in New Hampshire must still show a valid ID at the polls, and their student ID for their New Hampshire based college is considered a valid ID.

Starting in July 2019, out-of-state students who want to vote in New Hampshire will be facing much stricter requirements. The new requirements make it so those students would need to register their car in New Hampshire as well as change their driver’s license over to a New Hampshire issued one, and a few other obligations that would make the students New Hampshire residents.

Many who oppose this bill say it unfairly impacts college students and has created a poll tax for them, which will discourage them from voting altogether. They argue that college students are part of the communities where they study, so they should be allowed to vote on policies that will impact them. It also may discourage younger workers from moving to the state because it inhibits their ability to participate in voting.

However, those who are for the bill say it’s unfair to the residents of New Hampshire to allow students who actually live in other states to vote on New Hampshire policies, claiming it would cancel out the vote of long-time residents. They also say that out-of-state students are still able to vote, they just have to fill out an absentee ballot.

New Hampshire students offered their opinions on the issue: how do you feel about out-of-state students voting on New Hampshire issues?

Elsa McConologue, 15, a Sophomore at Newfound Regional High School, thinks out-of-state students studying in New Hampshire should be able to vote. “They’re here nine months out of the year and the things that they vote on could potentially impact them as students. Some would say that a lot of college students vote Democratically, but that’s just the way it is, it’s still going to impact them,” she said.

Abbey Gamberdella, 18, is a resident of Woburn, Massachusetts who will be an incoming Freshman at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire this fall. She believes that out-of-state students should be able to vote because ultimately, they’re living here. “They qualify for legal citizenship in New Hampshire for other things, so I don’t understand why they can’t vote because they live here just as much as anyone else,” she said.

Cody Roy, 20, is a resident of Leominster, Massachusetts who attends college at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire. He feels that if students believe they should vote on certain issues, they deserve the option to do so. “I live 45 minutes from campus so it’s not that difficult for me to vote,” he said, “but I definitely think it should be an option for people who want it who are further away.”