Republican-backed voting bills target college students
March 7th, 2011 6:08 pm ET .Do you like this Article?
It might be a little much to call it legalized voter suppression but House Republicans in New Hampshire are "pushing for new laws that would prohibit many college students from voting in the state- and effectively keep some from voting at all."

The Washington Post reports that the measures in New Hampshire are among "dozens of voting-related bills being pushed by newly empowered Republican state lawmakers across the country."

One bill in the New Hampshire state house would prohibit students from voting in their college towns unless they or their parents had previously established permanent residency there. All others would have to vote in the states or other New Hampshire towns they come from.

Another bill would end Election Day registration, which New Hampshire Republican House Speaker William O'Brien said unleashes swarms of students on polling places, creating opportunities for fraud.

They're "foolish," said O'Brien, taking aim at college kids in a recent speech to a tea party group (a video is now on YouTube). "Voting as a liberal. That's what kids do." They lack "life experience," and "they just vote their feelings."

Even college Republicans are unhappy about the efforts. "There's no doubt that this bill would help Republican causes," said Richard Sunderland III, head of Dartmouth College's Republican club. However, "this doesn't help if the Republican Party wants to try to win over people in the 18-to-24 age range