WATERVILLE — When the three candidates running for mayor meet tomorrow night for a forum at Colby College, they’re assured of being asked about their position of Question 1 on the Nov. 8 election ballot.

It asks whether to repeal the new law passed by the Legislature and Gov. Paul LePage that requires new voters to register at least two business days before the election. The law ends same-day voter registration in Maine.
Sandy Maisel, the Colby professor of government who will moderate the mayoral debate, said he’s posing the question because the topic of voting rights has recently garnered heightened attention among college students.

Citing state laws, Secretary of State Charlie Summers said recently that when Maine college students establish residency and vote in the state, they must also get a Maine driver’s license and register their vehicles. The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine has blasted Summers’ remarks, which were contained in letters sent to nearly 200 Maine university students identified in an investigation by his office.

State Republican Chairman Charlie Webster submitted the students’ names to Summers, fearing they were committing voter fraud by voting in Maine and in another state. Summers said his investigation into those allegations revealed “vulnerabilities” in the state’s voting system, but only one case of illegal voting.

Critics have charged that the rejection of same-day voter registration and Summers’ recent comments amount to voter suppression.

“My feeling is pretty strong,” said Maisel, a former candidate for Congress and a Democratic party activist. “The federal law is clear on the point that students can register where they are in school if they consider that their primary residence. Some of our students do; some do not. But the law deals with intent, which students, not the secretary of state, should be able to interpret.”

Ben Wexler-Waite, 20, a sophomore at Colby who’s also vice president of Colby College Democrats, said he views the elimination of same-day voter registration as “deeply undemocratic.”

“Many college students are so busy with work that they either don’t have time or are unaware of how to properly register to vote,” Wexler-Waite said. “Same-day voter registration allows thousands of younger voters across the state to participate in the political process and influence their own futures, which hinge upon decisions being made in Augusta and Washington.”

Wexler-Waite also thought that Summers has showed he is completely out of touch with younger voters by using “scare tactics.”

At Thomas College, which hosted a Waterville mayoral debate last week, 20-year-old John Little Jr. said he thinks the new law is reasonable. Little, a junior and criminal justice major, said he feels a duty to vote and thinks the new law captures that sense of responsibility. The law aims to make Maine voters more informed and aware of election day, he said, and to take voting more seriously.

“It makes people who want to vote decide to do so before the election. I think with this new law it will promote more responsible and informed voters,” Little said. “It also takes away the chance for voter fraud, and fraud is a serious concern when it comes to voting. The law impacts not only college students but everyone. This could hinder the student because it takes more time to get out to register, but if you are really passionate about voting and making an impact then you will have been registered beforehand.”

Little stops short of agreeing with Summers’ comments linking voting with car registration, but still thinks the idea makes sense if it wards against voter fraud. And just one case of voter fraud should be enough to warrant changes to laws and regulations, he said.

“If you are a resident, then you must have your car registered here in the state,” Little said. “It makes sense because there are many people in this state that live here but have their vehicle registered in other states, such as Florida.”

Emily Shaw, an assistant professor of political science at Thomas College, said she fears the rejection of same-day voter registration “threatens to make voting much more limited and more difficult for people who have classically had trouble making their voices heard.” She listed several examples, such as poor people who may need to move more frequently and thus register more frequently, unenrolled voters who aren’t reminded and guided through the process by a political party and people who have mobility problems and may have difficulty getting to the polls once, let alone twice.

And Shaw sees the college student registration issue as a red herring, citing the 1971 Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruling that students could vote in Maine if they considered the state to be their current primary residence.
“Trying to tie it to the election day registration issue certainly demonstrates the fact that some people don’t like the outcome of 1971 Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruling,” Shaw said. “But it isn’t really an effort to overturn it.”

James Libby, an associate professor  of economics and political science at Thomas College and moderator of last week’s mayoral debate, said he doesn’t object to the new law.

“I think that having college students consider this in advance and then actually go down and vote is a commitment to the municipality,” said Libby, who is also a former state legislator and a former 2002 Republican primary candidate for governor. “I think making that commitment is the first step in becoming a fully engaged citizen.”

Scott Monroe — 861-9239
smonroe@centralmaine.com