by Ed Naile
Good old Civil Rights Day – Oh wait, its MLK Day now. The more we brag about equality – the more it stays the same, some of us are just plain better than others.
Case in point: Doesn’t the phrase “civil rights” mean that no group, race, color, religion, or creed is provided special privileges? One would think so. But then you take a cursory look at the NH Secretary of State web site where it explains, rather perfectly, how some people are more privileged than others. Here it is:
II. College Student Voting
“New Hampshire election law provides college students with a special privilege when determining where they register to vote. A college student in New Hampshire may choose as his/her voting domicile, either the domicile he/she held before entering college or the domicile he/she has established while attending college…”
Once again one would think that registering to vote was everyone’s civil right and that no one had certain specific privileges, but in NH you would be wrong. If I was writing this pamphlet for student voters I would substitute “legal obligations” where is says “special privileges.” But that is just me.
“Special Privileges” means non-resident college students get to “determine” where they register, unlike NH residents with a legal domicile here in this state and town in which they actually live. College students in NH, even though they pay non-resident tuition, can claim they are residents of NH. Non-resident students can be “domiciled” in any town surrounding the college town they go to school in, as is the determination and practice of our NH Attorney General’s Office and Secretary of State.
Have a look at the definition of domicile for NH elections. It is very similar, apparently, to the definition of “is” in Clinton lexicon.
New Hampshire law provides the following definition of domicile:
“An inhabitant’s domicile for voting purposes is that one place where a person, more than any other place, has established a physical presence and manifests an intent to maintain a single continuous presence for domestic, social, and civil purposes relevant to participating in democratic self-government. A person has the right to change domicile at any time, however a mere intention to change domicile in the future does not, of itself, terminate an established domicile before the person actually moves. A person’s claim of domicile for voting purposes shall not be conclusive of the person’s residence for any other purpose.”
SHALL NOT BE CONCLUSIVE…?
Wait, doesn’t that mean you can keep your, for arguments case, Ohio driver’s license? I think it does, so that privilege sends your taxes to Ohio when you re-up that license. Nice privilege.
And if you register same day in NH, so you can take advantage of a hot US Senate race instead of the boring one in Vermont lets say, you get the privilege of picking and choosing a candidate. NH residents are not entitled to that privilege. (Hey, what if we said white voters could choose like this? Then there would be no need to gerrymander.)
Let us stop and take a look again at the meaning of “shall not be conclusive” as it pertains to having a Vt. Drivers license and being privileged to vote in NH:
CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE—That which cannot be contradicted by any other evidence. For example, a record, unless impeached for fraud, is conclusive evidence between the parties.
Now back to NH’s definition of domicile:
Non-resident student voters can keep an out of state license and thereby avoid being called for jury duty, a civil obligation, in NH where you and I would be required to serve.
Non-resident student voters in NH can also keep their residency in their home state which means they could have enough residency to run for some political office back home.
Let this sink in and we can take a look later at some of the stimulating Election Law the Democrats in NH have passed lately.