When one thinks of college, they might think of dorms, study-groups, late night parities ”“ but voter fraud?

The chair of the Maine Republican Party, Charlie Webster, has recently come out with accusations that more than 200 out-of-state college students, who pay tuition to public Maine universities, carried out voter fraud in the 2010 election cycle.

While the need for oversight in elections is vital to ensuring a successful process, the need for young people to participate is vital to the success of democracy itself. This is especially true for Maine, as the oldest state in the country. Holding on to young people should be a top priority, not only the individuals that are from here originally but also those “from away.” Turning away people who want to participate in their local communities through our electoral process based solely on the fact they are students is just wrong and actually against our constitution.

Though it is admirable that he cares deeply for fair elections, Charlie Webster’s claims are based entirely out of political posturing at best. I guess he never read the 1979 Supreme Court position in Symm v. United States when they ruled that all students have the right to vote where they attend college. Moreover, in our very own state statute regarding voter eligibility, as long as students verify who they are and their local residency, they are allowed to register in that municipality. That local residency can be based on a number of factors not limited to state-issued IDs, driver’s licenses and utility bills.

So what is the issue? Was it because of democratic organizations busing the college students to fulfill their civic duty? That would mean that Democrats are more apt at mobilizing the youth vote than Republicans are, and this was most notable during the 2008 presidential election. As my college political science professor once said in class, “If you’re not a liberal when you’re young, you have no heart; and if you’re not a conservative when you’re older, you have no brain.”

He was, of course, being facetious, but it gets to the larger point that statistically more young people tend to vote Democratic in elections. Naturally, this would send a political shiver up Republican spines. Hopefully the coined phrase of “voter suppression” isn’t the Maine Republican Party’s goal. As a college student, hearing of the potential of keeping young people like me from voting leaves a nasty taste of political dirtiness in my mouth; something I might be apt to remember come the next election. 

This also is timed nicely with the upcoming ballot referendum on same-day voter registration that Republicans voted to eliminate this past legislative cycle. There are no coincidences in politics. The fact this is coming out now in such an unsubstantiated way begs the question: What other tactics are going to be employed to prevent a citizen reversal to re-allow same-day voter registration?

Maine does have a rich history of strong voter turnout, but this nation in general has a problem with engaging its youth in an effective way so that they can become active citizens in this democracy. What both political parties should be doing, instead of slinging voter mobilization or voter suppression mud, is work together to combat apathy around young people getting involved in civics.

You won’t have political parties if you don’t have a future voting block, and young people are the keys to that future. Back in high school, I remember being told by a Republican candidate for state representative that it didn’t matter what I thought about a particular issue we were discussing because I couldn’t vote yet. I was less than a year off from being eligible to register, but that wasn’t good enough.

Let’s not make the same mistake when it comes to eligible young adults who are contributing to Maine’s economy by way of thousands of dollars to our public institutions. Those people count, too. Those college students represent the economic future of this state and not only trying to better themselves, but also their communities; their local Maine communities.

— Justin Chenette is a host of Youth in Politics, airing on WPME Sundays at 2 p.m. and WPXT at 8:30 a.m. He is a former member of the Maine State Board of Education, a graduate of Thornton Academy and is currently attending Lyndon State College, majoring in broadcast news. Follow him on Twitter @justinchenette, like him on Facebook.com/JustinChenetteOfficial, or visit his website at justinchenette.com.