Saturday, November 6 , 2004.
CAMPUS CAMPAIGN - Student vote drive called success.
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | November 3, 2004
DURHAM, N.H. -- They plied them with free coffee, oatmeal-raisin cookies, and shuttle buses to the polls. They ousted them from dorm rooms and study halls with bullhorns. Even Jon Bon Jovi came to serenade the college students of New Hampshire.
It was one of the most successful get-out-the-vote operations of the past decade, local officials say, and relatively free of the sniping some had expected.
Democrats stationed some 500 lawyers at polling places across the state, prepared to fight challenges to out-of-state students' votes from the hundreds of Republican poll monitors who had pledged to launch those disputes. But by yesterday, the attorney general and secretary of state had few problems to report, a stark difference from 2002 when nearly 500 students trying to cast ballots were challenged.
''We were preparing for the worst, but things are going relatively smoothly," Deputy Secretary of State Dave Scanlan said.
By the end of voting, officials had received only a few reports of incidents in each of the college towns, including Keene, Durham, and Hanover, Scanlan said.
By the middle of the day, five voters had been challenged in Hanover, home of Dartmouth College. All five eventually were allowed to vote.
After the 2000 presidential election, the state's Republican-dominated Legislature and Republican governor passed a law that seeks to crack down on people whose permanent address is elsewhere but want to vote in the state. College students are one of the groups affected.
The turnout in New Hampshire was running at record levels for most of the day. About 20,000 more voters were expected at the polls than during the last presidential election. Some officials said they credit a good part of the difference to students.
''The locals, they always vote," said Town Councilor Peter Hamilton of Durham, who was campaigning outside the town's only polling place. ''It's the students who are pouring in."
They came with book bags and tongue piercings, college jerseys, and a little time between classes. Kerry-Edwards vans shuttled students to the polls every few minutes from Dartmouth College in Hanover, Keene State College in Keene, and at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. Students standing in lines were treated to free hats, cookies, and drinks, from various groups and the Kerry-Edwards campaign.
''This is so cool," gushed 18-year-old Kathryn Murray, riding a Kerry-Edwards bus with fellow UNH students, who had just watched Bon Jovi sing ''Dead or Alive" at the student union.
The Democratic Party, which boasted the most visible student-voter recruitment effort yesterday, had targeted the approximately 50,000 students in the Granite State, hoping to tip the state's four electoral votes toward Kerry.
Republicans, who traditionally benefit from lower student turnout, said volunteers spent much of yesterday telephoning students who already were identified as Bush supporters.
''We think the best use of our resources is talking to students and reminding them to vote," said Jayne Millerick, chairwoman of the state Republican Committee.
The battle over student voters was not completely without fireworks. Both parties said they lodged complaints yesterday with the attorney general's office. The Republicans accused Democrats of distributing misleading fliers, and the Democrats accused Republicans of calling college students and telling them that turnout for Kerry was so high, they didn't need to vote.
Voters do not have to live in New Hampshire for any period of time to qualify, and they can register on Election Day with only a photo identification and a utility bill or other proof that they live in the state. They also must sign an affidavit, committing to register their cars in New Hampshire and apply for a driver's license in the state within 60 days.
In Durham, some Republicans expressed frustration with the Democrats' aggressive effort woo out-of-state students.
''I've been out in the parking lot several times, and there's license plates from Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, everywhere but here," said Shawn Coope, a GOP poll watcher in Durham. He said every out-of-state student vote cancelled out a longtime resident's vote. ''It's disenfranchising votes."
The Associated Press and Sarah Schweitzer of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Donovan Slack can be reached at [email protected]. � Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
From:http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2004/11/03/student_vote_drive_
called_success/?rss_id=Boston%20Globe%20--%20City%20/%20Region%20News