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Despite campus resources, barriers to student voting persist

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Despite campus resources, barriers to student voting persist

Nov 03, 2024 | 2:01 pm ET
By Eesha Pendharkar
Despite campus resources, barriers to student voting persist
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Emilia Toth at the Youth Voting Summit at Colby College in Waterville on October 5, 2024. (Photo by Michael G. Seamans/ Maine Morning Star)

University of Southern Maine senior Emilia Toth was running an election event on campus last week when she encountered two out-of-state students who had no idea how they could register or vote in Maine.

She helped the two students understand their rights, including how and where to register, and set them up to vote on Election Day, she said. But with the election around the corner, she is worried that a lot of students still don’t know their rights, even with the increased engagement she has seen on campus this year. 

Toth works for youth civic engagement organization Maine Students Vote and is overseeing all other student fellows at campuses across the state as they work to provide students with voting access information.

There have been previous attempts by Republican officials in Maine to restrict out-of-state students from voting. So for those interested in exercising their right, information is key, Toth and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows both said.

Even with the state’s public and private universities working hard to ensure students have access to information and transportation to get to the polls, not knowing how and where to vote can deter students from casting a ballot.

“I’ve encountered so many out-of-state students who had no idea they could choose where to vote,” Toth said. “I think it’s so important that students know what their rights are, and it’s not necessarily their fault that they don’t know these things.”

Students are missing information on voting 

Sadie Lesback, a sophomore in the mechanical engineering program at University of Southern Maine, drove two hours to vote in person in New Hampshire because she didn’t know she could vote in Maine. Her roommate, who is also from New Hampshire, could not make it home and would’ve had to miss voting until Lesback found out on Friday that out-of-state students can cast their ballots in Maine.

She said she had seen people tabling outside campus dining halls, but never stopped by because she wasn’t sure it was relevant for her. 

“To me, that kind of just looked like it was for Maine voters. Because I didn’t know I could be a Maine voter, I never stopped by those tables,” she said. “But having those tables is really important, and so is having it known that it’s not just for the people who are from Maine.” 

Lesback and three other USM students Maine Morning Star spoke with said having online information, such as emails to the student body, would have helped them better understand the law.

Yangki Sherpa had already requested her absentee ballot from Connecticut when she learned from one of the tables on campus that she was eligible to have voted locally. 

I wouldn't have even known I could register here if it weren't for someone telling me that I could.

– Holly Ness, a student at the University of Maine at Farmington

“I would have voted in Maine if I had known at the time,” Sherpa said. “Since I’m from a really liberal part of Connecticut, my vote doesn’t really matter that much there since a Democrat is always going to win, essentially.”

Holly Ness, a student at the University of Maine at Farmington, said the university has sent emails informing students how to get a proof of address letter to register. That allowed Ness to vote in Maine instead of Massachusetts this year.

“Being able to vote as someone who isn’t from Maine is such a convenience, and I’m glad our university understands that and helps many students — who either didn’t know they could vote if they’re from out-of-state, or think that they can’t vote because they’re not from Maine — learn what they can do,” she said.

“I wouldn’t have even known I could register here if it weren’t for someone telling me that I could,” Ness said.

University outreach

Maine’s public universities and private liberal arts colleges, including Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby, are encouraging students to know their rights and vote. The flagship University of Maine in Orono is serving as a polling place on Election Day, and most other campuses are offering shuttles for students to head to the polls, such as the more rural campuses in Machias, Fort Kent, and Presque Isle, according to system spokesperson Samantha Warren. 

Campuses in northern and central Maine may not have student fellows promoting voting, Toth said, which could potentially lead to a lack of information at these locations. 

“There definitely are universities where this type of work may not be happening, and there’s a lot of different reasons for that, whether they’re smaller schools or commuter schools or in the more rural areas,” she said.

But wherever out-of-state students attend school in Maine, the Secretary of State’s office has made it clear that all out-of-state students can choose to vote here or in their home state.

Despite some attempts across the state’s public universities, email information about out-of-state students’ voting rights, which several students said is vital, was not provided across the system. While the Farmington and Machias campuses provided information about acquiring proof of residency on student portals or through the student life office, USM students said they did not receive any online information on this topic. 

Additionally, all the students Maine Morning Star spoke with said not having a day off on Election Day may also prove to be a barrier to voting, if students are forced to choose between attending class and going to the polls, where they may have to wait in long lines.

Resurrecting voting restrictions that will impact students

Even though student voting rights are clearly defined in state law, conservative political action committees and Republican lawmakers have and continue to attempt to limit these rights by introducing legislation or circulating petitions that would require voters to show identification before casting their ballots. 

A recent petition being circulated by the conservative Dinner Table PAC is one such attempt to mandate Maine voters show photo ID before being allowed to vote. Since student IDs aren’t listed as an acceptable form of identification, if the effort,  — which is based on a bill introduced a few years ago —  gets enough signatures to be placed on the ballot and is passed, it will restrict students’ voting rights.

Toth said she has advised students not to sign this petition if they run into people collecting signatures at the polls.

“It’s a really misleading campaign, because they make it seem like a no-brainer, like, ‘Yeah, you should show ID to be able to vote,’” she said. “But the issue is that it would make certain IDs invalid as a type of voter ID.”

Over the years there have been other attempts at restricting student voters, including a letter sent to almost 200 University of Maine out-of-state students in 2011 by former Secretary of State Charlie Summers telling them they may be violating Maine laws. The warning was accompanied by a voter request to cancel registration, according to a letter by the ACLU of Maine letter in opposition.

“Every time a legislator has tried to block students from voting by introducing bills to do that, it has been decisively defeated, often with bipartisan support for students’ right to vote,” Bellows, the current secretary of state, said.

“Dating back to the 1800s, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that students who attend school here in our state have the right to vote.”