New Hampshire senator to ask 2020 Dems to back repeal of state residency law

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) will ask all 2020 Democratic candidates to oppose a state law that would require college students to be permanent Granite State residents to be allowed to vote, according to CNN.

“I am asking every candidate for President to stand up for these students, condemning these tactics and protecting the integrity of New Hampshire’s voting process by signing a petition publicly denouncing this voter suppression law,” reads the letter, set to be delivered to all 18 declared Democratic candidates on  Monday, according to CNN.

{mosads}Under current New Hampshire law, registered voters must only prove “domicile” rather than permanent residency, according to CNN. The more restrictive House Bill 1264, which takes effect in July, would require out-of-state residents such as college students to pay to obtain a state driver’s license as well as register their cars within 60 days of established residency.

The law, Shaheen wrote, imposes a “poll tax” on college students, who are being “disenfranchised by photo ID requirements, arbitrary challenges to residency, and unfounded allegations of fraud,” according to CNN. In 2017, President Trump reportedly claimed, without evidence, that illegal votes from Massachusetts residents cost him the state in the 2016 election and unseated former Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R).

“With the nation’s eyes turned toward our first-in-the-nation primary, we have an opportunity to send a clear message to anyone seeking to subvert voting rights,” Shaheen wrote, according to CNN.

The early-primary state will be the site of five back-to-back candidate town halls on Monday: Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Shaheen’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.