Lawmakers weigh measures that might make it harder for some to vote

AUGUSTA — Despite having no evidence that anybody is voting improperly, lawmakers are weighing legal changes that would make it harder for college students and others to cast ballots in Maine.

During more than six hours of testimony before the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs on Wednesday, critics blasted the proposals as efforts to keep thousands of Mainers from participating in elections by requiring they provide photo identification cards and, for college students, proof of residency.

“What’s wrong with us that we don’t encourage people to vote instead of doing anything to discourage people from voting?” Attorney General Janet Mills asked.

House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, R-Newport, said there are “too many gaping holes” in the law that allows students to vote even if they have no intention of living in Maine. He said he’s looking for “some sort of indication” that a college student at Bates or Colby plans to stay before casting a ballot.

A handful of Bates College students, who had ignored anonymous posters warning them not to vote in November, told legislators about their love of Lewiston and dismay at the legislation that would make it harder for students to head to the polls.

Meghan Lynch, a senior, said she has “so much pride” for the city she’s come to think of as home, a place where she wants to stay.

“I see Lewiston as having an incredible future and I want to be a part of it,” Lynch said.

Ali Rabideau, another senior, said she knew from the start that she was choosing a city as well as a college. Now she reads the paper, joined a religious community, found a doctor and even figured out the best ice cream shops in the area.

“I feel like I belong to this community,” Rabideau said.

State Sen. Nate Libby, D-Lewiston, called Fredette’s bill “unconstitutional on its face.”

State Rep. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop, said everybody gets the chance to vote, whether they’re in college or not.

“Showing up is absolutely enough,” he said. “It might be the only thing you ever do in the political process.”

“It’s not a matter of just where you happen to be today,” Fredette responded.

His proposal would require students who live on campus to prove they pay Maine taxes or have a driver’s license that matches their school address. The measure is silent about students who live off-campus.

Opponents said that court cases have made it clear that the law can’t impose special rules on college students that don’t apply to everyone else.

“Students have a right to vote. There should not be double standard imposed,” Mills said.

Former state Sen. Chris Johnson, a Somerville Democrat, said the effort to crack down on college student voting runs counter to the state’s need to attract more of them to choose to live in Maine.

“Maine needs young people not only to attend college here but to settle down here,” Johnson said, and hitting them with unnecessary hurdles to vote only hinders the larger goal.

But supporters said the proposals would ensure the propriety of Maine’s elections and guarantee that every ballot cast is legitimate.

Rep. Joel Stetkis, R-Canaan, said that from his perspective, it’s crucial to ensure that proper votes are not canceled out by illegitimate ones.

State Rep. Brad Farrin, R-Norridgewock, who is pushing for mandatory photo identification cards, said he’s not trying to suppress the vote. He said he is just trying “to find some way” to make sure the process ensures the integrity of election results.

Neither Farrin nor anyone else, though, could provide a single example of anybody abusing the existing system.

Farrin said he doesn’t “subscribe to widespread voter fraud” but pointed out that in some races, even a few votes could make the difference. “It’d doesn’t have to be widespread and terrible” to be a concern, he said.

A deputy secretary of state, Julie Flynn, said she’s been involved in Maine’s elections for 22 years and never seen a single instance of an impersonation at the polls.

Flynn also decried the potential expense of making the change, which would force the state to provide identification for some, create new forms and procedures, establish new voter outreach efforts and deal with the nearly inevitable litigation. She also said localities would need to hire more election workers, all of it adding up to “significant burdens and costs” to cope with a nonexistence problem.

Bob Talbot, the first executive director of the Maine Human Rights Commission, said the photo identification bill is “one in a long line of efforts to take voting rights away from people.”

He said the measure “would take us a step backward” by making it more difficult for poor people and people of color to cast ballots.

Joby Thoyalil, a policy analyst for Maine Equal Justice Partners, said that requiring people to obtain a photo identification card would create “a new and unnecessary barrier to voter participation” that would be especially hard on low-income Mainers, particularly those in rural areas.

Part of the photo identification measure is a provision for low-income Mainers to get a free ID from the state. But critics said even that will prove too costly and difficult for many voters who don’t have ready access to transportation, birth certificates and other obstacles to getting help.

The issue of voter fraud has been especially hot in recent months because President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that millions of fraudulent ballots were cast in the Nov. 8 general election. Gov. Paul LePage has insisted that Maine’s elections are also rife with fraud.

Neither man has produced evidence for their assertions, however, and most political leaders on both sides of the aisle are skeptical that there’s a genuine problem.

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