As far as I know, a voting residence is a voting residence under that statute and it's not limited to national elections. I just don't know if it's been tested or not as to which would take precedent. If I see something that says otherwise, I will post it. But in
practice certainly and historically, out of state college students have been voting in primaries and caucuses in their school states all along providing a pretty solid precedent, I would think.
Aside from your immediate question, to which I'm sorry I don't have a better answer, there have been others raised in elections, mainly by Republicans trying to suppress the student vote at the state and local level. In 2006, for example, the DNC was on the RNC for voter suppression that included students and armed services personnel not living in the state of primary residence. Howard Dean was on the case.
The guide being used in Maryland is consistent with Republican efforts across the country, and in past elections, to challenge voters in order to deny them their right to vote and to manipulate the outcome of an election. A similar effort in 1981 led to a court ruling that forces the Republican National Committee to obtain the court’s permission prior to carrying out any such program, and to give the Democratic National Committee 20 days notice prior to going to court. On Monday, DNC Chairman Howard Dean sent a letter to RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman asking him to comply with both the letter and the spirit of the law, and confirm that neither the RNC or its affiliates would carry out any such tactics to disenfranchise voters. The effort to challenge voters in Maryland uncovered by the Washington Post clearly shows a disregard for that court ruling and is further evidence of the Republican Party’s commitment to keeping Americans they disagree with from voting.
The Washington Post story also comes a day after an agreement was reached in front of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, which gives voters a partial victory guaranteeing that nobody will be turned away by a lack of ID documentation.
Thanks to the plaintiffs who took on the Republican Voter ID law, hundreds if not thousands of voters, including college students and our brave men and women in uniform, who otherwise might not have been able to vote will now get to cast a ballot. However, the confusion surrounding this year's election only reinforces the need to closely examine these requirements after Election Day.
http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/11/dean_on_md_vote.phpThe Rock the Vote site has examples of attempts at voter suppression among college students in different election years in various states:
University of Arizona (2004)
On August 31, 2004, KSMB-TV’s Fox 11 News at 9 aired a segment featuring a Pima County registrar, Chris Roads, incorrectly stating that out of state students cannot register to vote in Arizona. The Fox reporter, Natalie Tejeda, took this misstatement one step further, stating that out of state students who register to vote in Arizona face criminal prosecution for committing a felony offense. Campus chapters of Rock the Vote and the Feminist Majority responded by holding local press conferences to publicize a student’s right to vote in Arizona; the national offices worked with the Brennan Center for Justice in New York to send letters to both the County Recorders Office and Fox News, Tucson, demanding a clarification of student voting rights. These efforts successfully cumulated in a September 17 press release from the Pima County Recorder’s Office affirming the right of all Arizona students to register and vote.
University of Delaware (2004)
A graduate student at U-Del was alarmed to find that materials distributed in the state-required class in which he was being trained to register new voters explicitly say that students who live in dorms are not eligible to register to vote. This Voter Registration Drive Manual also suggests that students be encouraged to vote absentee in the state where they lived before coming to school, and that students be warned that voting in Delaware could cause them to lose their financial aid and could affect their taxes and driver’s license. These statewide policies blatantly disenfranchise all students who live on campus and strongly discourage many others from voting. (Source: The News Journal, 4/25/2004; Delaware State Election Commissioner Procedures Manual for Organized Voter Registration Drive)
Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY)
In 2001, the students at Skidmore had their votes challenged by a poll watcher who stood at the doors of the polling place used by students, questioning the legality of votes cast by people who looked young. The poll watcher challenged students and required them to use affidavit ballots, meaning they had to reaffirm their eligibility by signing two oaths: one swearing their residency, and one acknowledging that any false statements would make them guilty of perjury. This tactic effectively scared many students out of casting their ballot on Election Day. Furthermore, there appeared to be partisan issues involved—the students make up a Democratic voting bloc in a majority Republican town, and the poll watcher intimidating students was also a volunteer for a Republican candidate. (Source: Metroland, 11/13/2003)
http://www.rockthevote.com/rtv_campuscamp_dorights.phpIn the current situation
in Iowa, although it's Democratic opponents who are objecting, instead of Republicans, the Democratic State Party and the Republican State Party both say it's legal for students to return to caucus, the Iowa Secretary of State's office says it's within the rules to attempt to educate student voters about caucusing, and colleges are opening their dorms for the purpose of the caucus, so there doesn't seem to be a conflict between state and federal law in Iowa.
Tommy Vietor, press secretary for Obama, said the flier that encourages out-of-state college students to return is being distributed only to students. Both the Democratic and Republican state parties as well as the Iowa secretary of state have said college students are legally allowed to return to caucus, he noted.
"It is sort of simplified language, but it's just making sure kids know that if you're a college student living on campus or off campus, you can caucus if you register in Iowa," Vietor said of the campaign brochure.
Some college campuses are temporarily reopening dorms during the winter break to make it easier for students to caucus. Coe College, for example, will open its dorms between noon on Jan. 3 and noon on Jan. 4 in an attempt to encourage student caucus participation.
Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro noted that his office has also worked with other groups to help educate young voters on how to caucus.
"I think it's playing within the rules," Mauro said of Obama's instructions to college students.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/NEWS09/712010320/1001/NEWSLast year, the Republicans were pushing changes to the New Hampshire law, on the other hand, and the Democratic Party there was pushing back. I'd have to research any developments in this story, but it seems to me that this sort of thing might be a conflict between state and federal law and also might provide an answer to your question if it has been challenged over which would take precedent. If the student's legal voting address is the school bringing with it the federal right to vote in the same state as the school, can they also be required to have a New Hampshire driver's license as the proposed state legislation does?
Republicans, who introduced the voting bills, say that the proposed changes are necessary in order to prevent people from voting in more than one place, which constitutes a felony.
“We need to make sure we have integrity in our voting laws,” said Republican Representative Robert Introne of Londonderry. “There has been suggestion by independent sources that students can be recruited and end up voting in that state when rightfully they should not be voting there.”
Democrats, on the other hand, see the bills as an attempt to disenfranchise college students who live in and go to school in New Hampshire and prevent them from casting largely Democratic votes. Bernie Benn, a House Democrat who represents Hanover, also pointed out that there is an unusually high voter turnout in Keene, Durham and Hanover, all of which are towns with large college student populations.
http://thedartmouth.com/2006/03/31/news/bill/I would say this whole brouhaha is not an issue in Iowa, though, unless Democratic candidates insist on making it one in the face of their own party's ongoing battles for the opposite goal. I also do not think college students will appreciate it if their voting rights are tampered with by Democrats any more than they do when it is by Republicans. And I think the "Republican Playbook" charge by any of our candidates who take this line against other of our candidates will have no meaning whatsoever. Just my opinion, for what it's worth.
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