College students have voting rights like everyone else

College students are a bunch of pesky, liberal idiots who can't be trusted to put an X on a ballot. At least, that's the impression you'd get from the recent statements of William O'Brien, the Republican speaker for the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

At a Tea Party meeting last month, O'Brien talked with organizers about college students voting in elections, calling them "foolish". "They don't have life experience," he added. "They just vote with their feelings. Voting as a liberal, that's what kids do."

Fellow representative Gregory Sorg had even kinder word, when he spoke at a separate public hearing later that month, adding the votes of average taxpayers are being "diluted or entirely canceled by those of a huge, largely monolithic demographic group composed of people with a dearth of experience and a plethora of the easy self-confidence that only ignorance and inexperience can produce." He went on to add our "youthful idealism is focused on remaking the world, with them in charge, of course, rather than with the mundane humdrum of local government."

Ouch. So apparently, not only are we self-confident fools who vote with our hearts; we're part of a massive conspiracy seeking to overthrow the government.

These aren't just words, either – both of these men are sponsoring two separate laws in New Hampshire that would directly affect college student voting. One would prevent anyone from voting in a district they or their parents do not claim residency in, while the other would prevent same-day registration.

O'Brien and Sorg claim these laws are necessary to help stop voter fraud, but their statements reveal their true motivations – they don't like that college students tend to vote liberally, and they want to make it harder for them to do so.

These laws would clearly disenfranchise college students, most of them don't go to school in the same district (or even the same state) as they officially reside. And the implications could be huge.

Take West Virginia University, for example. Half of the student population is out-of-state, meaning such a law here would prevent 15,000 students from voting in Morgantown. And with many of these students living five to six units, or even farther away, that would make it practically impossible for them to cast ballots in national elections.

If these type of laws catch on nationwide, the implications could be huge in elections ranging from the local level all the way up to the presidency.

In 2004, Senator John Kerry won Wisconsin, another state contemplating these same sorts of laws, by just 11,000 votes. In contrast, 17,000 out-of-state students attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

If those students hadn't been able to vote, think of how much closer it could've been. The state may have even gone to Bush.

With the 2012 election gearing up to be just as close, these numbers matter and can change everything.

O'Brien and Sorg argue that these voting law changes are necessary because college students don't really "live" in their towns, as if we're just a bunch of hippie vagabonds carelessly casting a ballot as we pass through.

Nothing could be further from the truth. College students spend at least nine months of the year living in their university's town, and many live there year-round. They work, pay taxes and rent apartments and houses. Many even settle down long-term after they graduate.

Students are just as much residents of their college towns as any other "permanent" resident, except we happen to be part of the town's social and economic bedrock.

And if that's not enough, remember those little census forms we all had to fill out last year? We get counted as part of the city and state's population for that, and state and local governments apply for federal money based on those numbers.

So I can live here, work here, pay taxes and be used as a basis to apply for federal aid, but I can't vote here? Apparently not if I vote liberal.

This is more than just an honest attempt to stop voter fraud. What we're seeing here is much like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's attempts to break up unions – politicians taking advantage of an issue to maneuver themselves politically and consolidate power.

And they're doing it by disenfranchising honest voters and making it harder for them to have a say, whether it be union members or college students.

Thankfully, there's no talk of a similar law coming to West Virginia.

But, if there ever was, I hope we'd all be foolish, inexperienced and self-confident enough to focus our youthful idealism on protecting our rights to have a say in government.