Bid to block N.H. voting law rejected

CONCORD, N.H. — A federal judge in New Hampshire denied a request Wednesday that would have blocked a new state law requiring voters to be full-fledged residents from being enforced for the first-in-the-nation presidential primary in February.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire sued the secretary of state and attorney general over the law on behalf of two Dartmouth College students. The law, which took effect in July, ended the state’s distinction between “residency” and “domicile.”

Before the law took effect, New Hampshire was the only state that didn’t require residency to vote. Although it doesn’t change the process of registering to vote, it effectively makes out-of-state college students who vote in New Hampshire subject to residency requirements.

The ACLU said the law created confusion while the state said any confusion is “self-created and sustained.” It argued that the requirement to get a license is triggered by when a person establishes residency, which may or may not be on the day he registers to vote.

U.S. District Judge Joseph LaPlante ruled Wednesday that the plaintiffs didn’t prove their claims, saying they produced no witnesses stating that the confusion led them to decide not to register to vote. “Indeed, all of the witnesses who testified that they currently have out-ofstate licenses also testified that they are registered to vote in New Hampshire,” LaPlante wrote.