The billionaire class is VERY, VERY upset:

I experience daily amusement at the billionaire class and its media working overtime to ignore the fact that Bernie is at or near the top of every single poll in this race.

The LAST thing they want the general public to hear is that Bernie has been #1 in polls for young adults and Latino voters, and in just the last month has been #1 in Iowa, #1 in New Hampshire, #1 in Nevada and now #1 in California.

They are very, very upset...

Because it used to be that those were the people who determined winners and losers. It was just the way it always was. A bunch of rich people would get into a room, share expensive food and drinks, and determine who would have the resources needed to win a presidential primary.

Those days are over, and they HATE it.

They hate that working people now have the power to come together and collectively ensure campaigns like Bernie’s — campaigns that actually fight for them — can out-raise them.

And the billionaire class wants to take that power back to ensure Democrats nominate someone who will represent their interests, as if they don’t have it good enough already.

Well, we can’t let them. We have to keep fighting. We have to keep exercising OUR power. Because if we do, Bernie is going to win. So I am asking:

Can you make a $10 contribution to Bernie Sanders' campaign for president today? Because if we are in this together, not only are we going to win this election and defeat Trump, we are going to transform this country.

There’s always been obscenely wealthy people in this country who have extraordinary power, but they won’t have the ability to pull the strings here once we understand that we actually hold the true power.

We build this power through volunteering, through talking to your friends and family, and through your contributions.

So if you can chip in $10 today, it would mean a lot to Bernie’s campaign and to our movement. Use this link:

https://act.berniesanders.com/go/People-Power

Thank you for reading.

In solidarity,

Michael Moore

CONTRIBUTE

Paid for by Bernie 2020

PO BOX 391, Burlington, VT 05402

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Inside PATRICK’S shoestring campaign — BAKER to sign EDUCATION bill — FRIENDLY’S put on notice

Inside PATRICK’S shoestring campaign — BAKER to sign EDUCATION bill — FRIENDLY’S put on notice

BY STEPHANIE MURRAY GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. PROGRAMMING NOTE: Massachusetts Playbook will not publish on Thursday, Nov. 28 and Friday, Nov. 29. I'll be back in your inbox on Monday, Dec. 2. BOSTON DONORS TO RALLY AROUND PATRICK — To call Deval Patrick's presidential campaign a shoestring operation would be insulting to shoestrings. Attend a Patrick event and there's not a bumper sticker or pin to be found, let alone organizers with clipboards collecting names of would-be voters. His ground game looks to be nonexistent: The entire campaign appears to consist of a handful of volunteers and several publicly announced staffers. In comparison, other campaigns have several hundred paid staffers and dozens of offices combined — and that's just in New Hampshire. Patrick has spent the first dozen days of his campaign trying to persuade senior Democratic leaders in the early voting states to take him seriously. They want to give the former Massachusetts governor with an inspirational life story and friendship with Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt. But Patrick has a way to go before they fully buy in. Some home-state loyalists are stepping in to help Patrick with his fundraising, making phone calls and even pleading on Facebook for money in an attempt to help the campaign get off the ground. One top Boston-area donor who has thrown his weight behind Patrick is John Fish, CEO of Suffolk Construction Co., the largest building company in New England. Just after Thanksgiving, Patrick and his wife, Diane, plan to attend a fundraiser at the home of Joshua Boger, founder and former CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, according to an invitation email obtained by POLITICO. The Dec. 2 event is being billed as the last time Patrick and his wife will be in the same room in Massachusetts until March 2020. It suggests contributions of $5,600 or $2,800. Co-hosts of the event include Patrick allies like Democratic donor Sean Curran, former Patrick administration official and president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council Bob Coughlin, Corvus Insurance founder Phil Edmundson, and Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca, among others. While acknowledging Patrick has an uphill climb, Boger pitched him as a candidate who can beat President Donald Trump and offered a veiled critique of the liberal campaigns of Sanders and Warren. "He may not win the nomination, and if he doesn't, I won't have wasted a dime. This pathetically-constructed (thanks DNC!!) reality-TV-show-version of a Democratic Primary needs the voice of Deval Patrick," Boger wrote in the invitation email. "If we can get him the resources quickly, he can demonstrate that in New Hampshire and South Carolina and beyond." "Deval has a realistic, if long-shot, path to the nomination," he continued. " More important than odds-making on that, he is the candidate who stands the best chance of trouncing Trump." Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com. TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker signs a long-awaited education funding bill at a ceremony with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Senate President Karen Spilka, House Speaker Robert DeLeo state Sen. Jason Lewis, Rep. Alice Peisch and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. Baker and Polito attend the annual Firefighter of the Year awards. Walsh and Boston City Councilor Kim Janey attend a signing ceremony for a cannabis equity ordinance at City Hall. Sen. Ed Markey meets with Braintree community members. Rep. Joe Kennedy III visits the North Quabbin Catholic Community Food Bank and the Leominster Spanish American Center's food pantry, and takes a small business walk in Concord. Rep. Jim McGovern and Kennedy walk with Monte's March to raise money to end hunger. Rep. Katherine Clark meets with residents of the Jack Satter House in Revere. Oral arguments are made for and against House Speaker Sal DiMasi's appeal to register as a lobbyist. DATELINE BEACON HILL - "Baker to Sign Landmark Education Funding Bill," by Katie Lannan, State House News Service: "Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday plans to sign into law a sweeping overhaul of the state's school finance system, committing to $1.5 billion in funding over seven years. The signing ceremony is set for 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at English High School in Jamaica Plain, according to an email sent to lawmakers from Baker's office, a copy of which was obtained by the News Service." - "Massachusetts becomes 16th state to ban hand-held cellphone use while driving," by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "With a stroke of his pen, Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday made Massachusetts the 16th state to prohibit drivers from holding their cellphones while driving. "Operators driving a car should not be holding a phone to text, check social media or email," Baker said moments after signing the bill. "When a driver on an electronic device hits something or someone, that's not an accident, it's a crash that was avoidable." The ban will go into effect in 90 days, on Feb. 23. Until March 31, police officers will only be allowed to issue a warning for a first offense." - "Auditing firm hands over RMV records to Legislature," by Abigail Feldman, Boston Globe: "The auditing firm hired by Governor Charlie Baker's administration to investigate the Registry of Motor Vehicles on Monday gave state lawmakers records from interviews of current and former state employees, after initially refusing to do so without legal action. Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack announced the handover Monday night during an airing of WGBH's Greater Boston news series. The audit revealed that the Registry had for years neglected alerts about Massachusetts residents who broke traffic laws in other states, allowing those drivers to stay on the road." - "DeLeo Floats Idea to Address Budget Stalemate," by Matt Murphy, State House News Service: "Unable to agree with the Senate on a larger bill, House Speaker Robert DeLeo on Monday told the Baker administration and state comptroller that the House would be willing to pass a close-out budget bill that pays any outstanding bills from last year, but includes no discretionary spending, in order to break the stalemate with the Senate." - "Massachusetts Attorney General Releases Report On Efforts To Mitigate Asbestos Risk," by Gabrielle Emanuel, WGBH News: "Three years after launching the Healthy Buildings, Healthy Air Initiative, aimed at protecting people from the risks of asbestos exposure, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is releasing the results of her work. The report highlights a three-pronged approach to combating the risks associated with asbestos, including advocating for strong federal protections, taking action against contractors and property owners who do not follow regulations for working safely with asbestos, and working with schools to identify where there is asbestos." - "AG Maura Healey: Grant Thornton Records Should Be Made Public," by Zoe Mathews, WGBH News: "Attorney General Maura Healey said Monday that the auditing company hired by the state to investigate the Registry of Motor Vehicles should not be keeping records private. "I'm hoping this resolves itself immediately. I think these records should be made available," she said in an interview with Boston Public Radio. Grant Thornton, the auditing firm Gov. Charlie Baker hired in the wake of a New Hampshire motorcycle crash that killed seven people in June, is refusing to turn over interview records directly relating to that incident without a subpoena from lawmakers, according to the Boston Globe." - "Berkshire lawmakers support bill that would criminalize suicide coercion," by Carolyn Komatsoulis, Berkshire Eagle: "Amid concerns about bullying, Berkshire County representatives said they support Conrad's Law, a controversial bill intended to make it a crime in Massachusetts to coerce someone to commit suicide. State Sen. Barry Finegold, D-Andover, and Rep. Natalie Higgins, D-Leominster, filed bills in response to the case in Fairhaven, where then-17-year-old Michelle Carter in 2014 pressured her teenage boyfriend Conrad Roy through texts to kill himself, which he eventually did." FROM THE HUB - "Is Walsh preparing to go 'bold' on transportation?" by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Magazine: "IS MAYOR MARTY WALSH preparing to call for a massive upgrade of Boston-area public transit by making the case for a regional tax to support bold new investments? Listen to him on the new installment of The Codcast, and you make the call. The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce's "City to City" program sets out to take Boston civic and business leaders to other cities so they can expand their thinking on challenges at home by learning about policies and practices elsewhere. Walsh, who was part of the program's trip earlier this month to Los Angeles, has clearly taken that mission to heart." - "Consortium plans to build cell manufacturing facility," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "A STAR-STUDDED CAST of local academic, business, and hospital institutions is uniting to spend $50 million on an independent, nonprofit cell-manufacturing facility in the Greater Boston area that is expected to bring revolutionary biomedical treatments to market much faster. The founding partners include Harvard, MIT, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities. The other participants are five of the region's top hospitals — Massachusetts General, Brigham and Women's, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Children's, and Beth Israel Deaconess- along with MilliporeSigma and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." - "THE QUIET ONE," by Sara Selevitch, DigBoston: "40 years ago this month, Fred Clay was arrested for a crime he didn't commit. After 38 years behind bars, he's telling his story and writing another chapter. Just after 4 am on Nov 16, 1979, 28-year-old Jeffrey Boyajian sat idling in his cab in downtown Boston. One more ride, Boyajian may have thought to himself, eager to return home to Swampscott after a slow night. Another cab driver, Richard Dwyer, who was parked behind Boyajian, watched as three men crossed the street and climbed into Boyajian's cab." PRIMARY SOURCES - "Shannon Liss-Riordan calls for $6 million cap on campaign spending in Senate race with Markey and Kennedy," by Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com: "The early months of the Democratic primary race for Sen. Ed Markey's seat have often been consumed by arguments more about process than actual policy. First, the Massachusetts senator challenged his primary opponents to a debate on climate change. Then, Rep. Joe Kennedy III responded in turn by calling for a "people's pledge" to block outside spending in the race (the two candidates also clashed over accepting donations from corporate PACs). Now, it's Shannon Liss-Riordan's turn." - "LAWRENCE MAYOR DAN RIVERA ENDORSES JESSE MERMELL FOR CONGRESS," from the Mermell campaign: "Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera today endorsed Jesse Mermell to represent Massachusetts' Fourth District in Congress, citing their work together on economic growth and leadership development in Lawrence as evidence of her commitment to building diverse and inclusive coalitions and driving economic opportunity in Gateway Cities. Rivera said he sees Mermell as a groundbreaker, who will bring the same passion and results to Congress as she did for their work together on Lawrence Leads, a public-private partnership to spur economic growth for all residents of the city." DAY IN COURT - "Housing advocacy group sues state over lead law," by Dusty Christensen, Daily Hampshire Gazette: "A local housing advocacy organization is suing state health officials over the commonwealth's lead-paint poisoning prevention law, arguing that the law has incentivized landlords to discriminate against families with children rather than abate lead paint in their buildings. The Holyoke-based Massachusetts Fair Housing Center and two families, one of whom lives in Northampton, have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the heads of the state's Department of Public Health and its Bureau of Environmental Health and Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program." WARREN REPORT - "Suffolk/Globe poll finds Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, Biden in tight race in N.H." by James Pindell, Boston Globe: "A new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters shows a tight, four-way contest, with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on top but statistically tied with Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., and former vice president Joe Biden. It has been decades since this many candidates have jostled for the lead so soon before a New Hampshire presidential primary. On Monday, longtime New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner officially scheduled the vote for Feb. 11." - "Elizabeth Warren slams Bloomberg: He's trying to 'buy the nomination,'" by Daniella Diaz, CNN: "Elizabeth Warren made a rare direct attack on a Democratic presidential rival Monday, slamming former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for spending millions of dollars on ads to "buy the nomination." Warren's direct attack on Bloomberg illustrates how she plans to use another billionaire's entry into the race as fuel for her candidacy, which is aimed at addressing what Warren sees as a fundamentally unfair economic and political system that benefits the wealthy." - "Exclusive: Warren Leads Among LGBTQ+ Voters in First-of-Its-Kind Poll," by Nico Lang, Out: "Elizabeth Warren, shante you stay. In a first-of-its-kind poll, a new survey from YouGov and Out magazine found that LGBTQ+ voters favor the Massachusetts Senator by a nearly 2-to-1 margin over her Democratic rivals in the 2020 primary race. In an online survey of 816 likely voters in the Democratic primary conducted between November 11 and November 18, 31 percent claimed that Warren is their preferred candidate, followed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (18 percent), former Vice President Joe Biden (16 percent), and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg (14 percent)." PATRICK PRIMARY - "Deval Patrick: Democratic primary is 'wide open,'" by Stephanie Murray and Trent Spiner, POLITICO: "Deval Patrick insisted Monday he has a real shot at the Democratic nomination despite his last-minute entry into a packed field earlier this month. "It's a wide-open race," the former Massachusetts governor told reporters at the Politics & Eggs breakfast, hosted by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. "And the fact that folks have been in for a long time and campaigning for a long time now, raising money for a long time ... has not resolved it." Patrick's comments came on the heels of a trip through the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada." - "Deval Patrick hires operative to head his South Carolina campaign," by Trent Spiner, POLITICO: "Deval Patrick's presidential campaign has hired LaJoia Broughton to run his South Carolina operation, a campaign official told POLITICO. Broughton, the second person to be named publicly as a member of Patrick's fledgling campaign, is a political operative based in the state capital of Columbia. Since June, she has worked as state government affairs manager for JUUL Labs, the maker of e-cigarettes. Broughton faces the task of bootstrapping an organization as other campaigns have spent months building out their operations in South Carolina." DATELINE D.C. - "Friendly's sudden closures prompt Sen. Chuck Schumer to call for tougher warning laws," by Jim Kinney, MassLive.com: "Prompted by Friendly's abrupt April 2019 shutdown of 23 restaurants in five states at the cost of hundreds of jobs, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer proposed tightening federal laws requiring that workers get fair warnings of layoffs. In many cases workers arrived for their breakfast shifts to learn the location was closed. Those April closures included 15 restaurants across upstate New York which got the attention of Schumer, a Brooklyn Democrat, who serves as the Senate minority leader. Each Friendly's location has about 35 employees." ABOVE THE FOLD — Herald: "SHE NEEDS A HERO," — Globe: "Quartet of candidates top N.H. poll," "Judge orders McGahn to testify." FROM THE 413 - "Monte's March aims for $1 million in 10th year of raising funds for Food Bank of Western Mass," by Damaris Pérez-Pizarro, Springfield Republican: "Radio personality Monte Belmonte of WRSI 93.9 FM kicked off his 10th annual Monte's March with a large group following him down Main Street in Springfield on Monday morning. While Belmonte pushed a shopping cart his entourage held posters to raise awareness of hunger and the importance of donations made to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. The two-day walk covers 43 miles from Springfield to Greenfield with stops in Chicopee, Holyoke, Northampton, Hadley, Amherst and South Deerfield." THE LOCAL ANGLE - "It's 'WooSox!' Worcester Red Sox make name official while unveiling mascot honoring Harvey Ball's smiley design," by Michael Bonner, MassLive.com: "Earlier this month the Worcester Red Sox asked fans at an event "Who beats the WooSox?" The question resurfaced Monday when the organization revealed its nickname and logo at the Mercantile Center in Worcester. Whether asked Monday night, last month or last year, the answer remained consistent: nobody. The team will retain its Red Sox moniker as it moves to Worcester from Pawtucket in 2021. For more than 40 years, the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox has been known more colloquially as the PawSox, a name coincidentally sparked by a Worcester native." - MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: "N.H. Will Open Up To 10 In-Person Sports Betting Halls," by Todd Bookman, New Hampshire Public Radio: "Officials approved a contract with Boston-based Draft Kings on Monday to bring both in-person and online sports wagering to the state. The Executive Council approved the contract with Draft Kings on a 3-1 vote, with Councilor Andru Volinsky opposing and Councilor Debora Pignatelli not taking part due to a conflict of interest. Draft Kings will operate up to ten in-person sports betting halls statewide. The company will also launch an online gambling portal which will take bets from anyone physically located within the state." MEDIA MATTERS - "NPR Veteran Margaret Low To Lead WBUR," by Callum Borchers, WBUR: "Veteran news executive Margaret Low will be the next chief executive and general manager of WBUR, leading one of the nation's preeminent public media outlets amid a series of shakeups. Low, 61, joins WBUR from The Atlantic, where for the past five years she has served as senior vice president and head of the magazine's live events division." - Ben Swasey joins NPR Politics as deputy editor. Swasey will leave his post as digital managing editor at WBUR. Tweet. HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Bob Dunn. DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes! The Celtics beat the Kings 103-102. FOR YOUR COMMUTE: DEVAL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL - On this week's Horse Race, hosts Jennifer Smith, Steve Koczela and Stephanie Murray discuss Boston's traffic problem, in light of a recent Boston Globe Spotlight report. Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell talks about her work on the council as her term wraps up, and her endorsement of Sen. Kamala Harris in the 2020 race. Former Gov. Deval Patrick aide Alex Goldstein gives his take on Patrick's last-minute entry into the presidential race. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud. Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you're promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.   Follow us on Twitter Stephanie Murray @StephMurr_Jour   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters FOLLOW US

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RSN: Norman Solomon | Why a DNC Vice Chair Bawled Me Out - and Why Joe Biden Must Be Stopped

09 September 19

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RSN: Norman Solomon | Why a DNC Vice Chair Bawled Me Out - and Why Joe Biden Must Be Stopped

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To unlock the youth vote in 2020, Democrats wage legal fights against GOP-backed voting restrictions

From left, students Kirby Phares, Garrett Muscatel, Maggie Flaherty, Becky Milner, Naomi Miller, and Caroline Casey (standing) have lunch the day before summer session classes start at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. (Sarah Rice/For The Washington Post)

By Amy Gardner

Maggie Flaherty was so upset that she was too young to cast a ballot against Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election that one of her first missions when she arrived as a freshman at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire the following year was to register to vote.

Then the California native learned about a new proposal from state Republicans that would subject college students who vote in the state to residency requirements such as getting in-state driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations.

“That costs money,” said Flaherty, who along with a classmate and the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state after the law passed. “And I don’t think it should cost money to be able to vote.”

The fight in New Hampshire is one of at least a dozen legal skirmishes being waged across the country, in the run-up to the 2020 election, that are financed by Democrats and liberal activists who hope to overturn or head off measures they fear could erode the electoral might of young voters — an increasingly left-leaning voting bloc.

Over the past decade, Republicans in more than a dozen states have tried to limit the kinds of student IDs that can be used at the polls, restricted the number of polling locations on or near college campuses, or gerrymandered political boundaries that divide campuses and dilute the power of student voters, as well as other measures.

Among the states with laws that Democrats fear could hamper the youth vote in 2020 are battlegrounds including Wisconsin, Florida and New Hampshire.


Dartmouth rising juniors Caroline Casey, 20, of Baton Rouge, left, and Maggie Flaherty, 20, of Ukiah, Calif., are plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU to challenge a new law that would subject college students who vote to residency requirements such as obtaining in-state driver’s licenses or car registrations. (Sarah Rice/For The Washington Post)

Republicans say the rules are meant to prevent fraud and safeguard the integrity of elections, and they deny accusations that they are trying to make it harder for young people to vote.

But there is little doubt that Democrats had more to gain when young voters engaged in recent elections. Voters under 30 turned out in record numbers last fall, helping to power a liberal wave that swept Democrats into power in Congress.

At the same time, that age group still cast ballots at far lower rates than all others. Voting-rights activists believe one reason is a slew of restrictions pushed by GOP state leaders in recent years.

Democrats and their allies are planning to spend millions of dollars on lawsuits arguing that such measures are unconstitutional and aimed at dissuading the participation of young voters.

“Elections are oftentimes a game of inches,” said Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer in Washington who is leading many of the challenges. “Young voters, particularly given the size of the millennial generation, can be measured in feet or yards. The difference of one percentage point here or there can be the difference between victory and loss.”

A growing political power




Caroline Casey unpacks in off-campus housing in Hanover, N.H. Proposed residency restrictions made her want to get involved in politics in the state she moved to for school. “It made me kind of up my level of involvement,” she said. (Sarah Rice/For The Washington Post)

Young voters have eluded Democrats for decades, and they are still not close to realizing their full electoral power. In the 2018 midterms, their turnout rate was little more than half that of voters overall, according to data from Tufts University and the University of Florida.

Yet from 2014 to 2018, participation among young voters rose seven percentage points, according to the Tufts analysis. More than two-thirds of them voted for Democrats in 2018, according to exit polling data — a higher margin than seen in a generation.

“That swing of 18- to 29-year-olds was responsible for adding two percentage points to the popular vote for Democrats this election,” said John Della Volpe, polling director for the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. “There were 10 seats that Democrats won by less than two points.”

Narrow electoral margins are among the reasons New Hampshire has emerged as a pivotal legal battleground over the youth vote.

In 2016, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won the state by fewer than 3,000 votes, or three-tenths of a percentage point. Democrat Maggie Hassan unseated Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) with a victory margin of just 1,017 votes.

Trump falsely claimed the results had been stolen, and state Republicans lamented that college students from out of state may have swayed the outcomes.



Maggie Flaherty has dinner with housemates in their off-campus housing in Hanover, N.H. (Sarah Rice/For The Washington Post)

Two years later, Republicans moved to pass a law requiring voters to comply with strict residency requirements such as getting a New Hampshire driver’s license and vehicle registration. Voting rights advocates said it would disproportionately affect out-of-state students.

Supporters of the new law said it was intended to combat fraud and noted that New Hampshire was the only state that did not require voters to be legal residents.

“We have a group of people who say, ‘This is where I live, but don’t have to register my car here. I don’t have to get my license like everyone else in this room has to do,’ ” said Sharon Carson, a Republican senator from Londonderry, N.H., during debate on the measure. “And yet we allow them to vote here.”

As he signed the measure last July, Republican Gov. Chris Sununu said it “restores equality and fairness to our elections.

“Finally, every person who votes in New Hampshire will be treated the same,” he said. “This is the essence of an equal right to vote.”


Maggie Flaherty washes dishes in her new kitchen. She moved in just before the start of the summer session. Flaherty is one of two Dartmouth students who, with the ACLU, is suing New Hampshire over voting residency requirements. (Sarah Rice/For The Washington Post)

Opponents argued that unlike in some other states, residents who move to New Hampshire are required to switch over their driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations within 60 days. The penalty for not doing so can reach $1,000. The cost of a new license is $50 and vehicle registration can cost hundreds of dollars, depending on the car, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

In its suit, the ACLU argued that the requirement is the equivalent of a poll tax.

“There’s certainly an effort to keep the electorate to a known, identifiable group,” said Julie Ebenstein, a lawyer with the ACLU litigating the case. “They certainly weren’t subtle.”

Sherman Packard, the Republican state representative who sponsored the bill, rejected the notion that the measure imposed financial barriers to voting.

“This lawsuit came from college students that are going to Dartmouth,” he said. “Do you know how much it costs to go to Dartmouth? It’s $50,000 a year. So don’t tell me it’s a hardship to register your car here.”

A wave of new restrictions

Republicans across the country began enacting a new wave of voting restrictions in 2011 after seizing control of a majority of state legislatures the prior year.

The volume of measures grew after 2013, when the Supreme Court decided, in Shelby County v. Holder, to strike down a portion of the Voting Rights Act that required certain jurisdictions, mostly in the South, to obtain federal permission to change voting rules and district boundaries.

The elimination of that requirement triggered a flood of new laws that included constraints that affected young voters, such as a voter ID law in North Carolina that restricted the use of student IDs at the polls.


Garrett Muscatel takes a seat in class at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. Muscatel, a rising senior, was inspired to run for office last year. He splits his time as a student and member of the state House of Representatives. (Sarah Rice/For The Washington Post)

Researchers say voting laws have a disproportionate impact on young people, who are often transient and less engaged in their local communities.

“We know from long-standing research that young people are more sensitive to changes in election law,” said Barry Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “Young people haven’t established a voting habit yet. So these things either get in the way or enable them to get that habit started.”

In states they control, Democrats have sought to encourage youth voting by making registration easier and extending the period of early voting, even as many GOP-controlled states have gone in the other direction with new restrictions.


Dartmouth students Garrett Muscatel, top row second from left, and Caroline Casey, top row second from right, attend a Hanover Democrats meeting in Hanover, N.H. (Sarah Rice/For The Washington Post)

In some cases, debates about the measures have been laced with town-and-gown tensions, with lawmakers complaining that the votes of longtime residents were being overwhelmed by those of temporary college students.

A conservative Arizona lawmaker named Bob Thorpe, whose district includes Northern Arizona University, proposed in 2017 blocking students from registering to vote at their college addresses unless they change their driver’s licenses, because local voters “are being drowned out by the student population.” The measure didn’t pass.

In an interview, Thorpe said his constituents were “very frustrated” by the impact of “part-time students” after a local referendum in 2016 raised the minimum wage in Flagstaff. “That voter referendum got pushed over the finish line by students going to Northern Arizona University,” he said.

A coordinated legal strategy

As part of their legal strategy, Democrats and civil rights groups are scouring state codes for both new and old measures that they believe could hinder young people from voting.

One such measure in Texas was passed in the wake of the ratification of the 26th Amendment in 1971, which guaranteed the right of 18-year-olds to vote.

The law, which is still on the books, does not allow new voters to preregister to vote until they are 17 years and 10 months old. Democrats are considering challenging the law — and potentially four similar ones in Alaska, Georgia, Iowa and Missouri — on the grounds that they give younger voters a smaller window to register than others, according to a strategy memo obtained by The Washington Post.




Garrett Muscatel splits his time as a student and as a representative in the state legislature. “The only way to stop voter suppression,” said Muscatel, now a rising senior, “was to get in the legislature myself.” (Sarah Rice/For The Washington Post)

The efforts to strike down laws that opponents argue discriminate against young voters comes after they failed in some cases to topple those same measures with claims of racial discrimination.

Activists lost a battle in 2015 over Wisconsin’s voter ID law, for instance, but Common Cause Wisconsin filed a lawsuit in April arguing that the same law discriminates against college students. The measure requires student IDs to include a signature, an issuance date and an expiration date no more than two years after the issuance date — features that are not always included on cards issued by universities.

Under the law, which passed in 2011 and was implemented in 2016, the requirements are not all mandated for other accepted forms of IDs used at the polls, such as those carried by faculty members.

Also in Wisconsin, activists in 2016 successfully overturned limits to early voting locations, which they argued affected minority populations as well as students. The case remains on appeal. In Iowa, opponents blocked a proposal this year that would have prohibited early-voting on the campuses of the state’s three public universities.

Another challenge is underway against political boundaries in North Carolina that have, among other things, diluted the power of college campuses. The case, which is before the Supreme Court, includes congressional district boundaries that divide the campus of the historically black campus of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro.


Caroline Casey, top, works in the library with Kirby Phares on the first day of summer session classes. (Sarah Rice/For The Washington Post)

In Florida, Democrats succeeded last year in temporarily blocking a prohibition of early voting locations on college campuses, which Republican officials had argued was necessary in part because such locations offer insufficient public parking.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a temporary injunction against the law last July, accusing state officials of “a stark pattern of discrimination.”

“It is unexplainable on grounds other than age because it bears so heavily on younger voters than on all other voters,” Walker wrote in his ruling. “Throwing up roadblocks in front of younger voters does not remotely serve the public interest. Abridging voting rights never does.”

With the policy suspended, election officials in nine counties chose to operate early-voting locations on 12 college campuses in last fall’s midterm elections. More than 60,000 cast ballots at those locations. And overall, turnout among under-30 voters in Florida was up 13 percentage points, according to Tufts University. Preliminary data released this month by researchers at the University of Florida shows that early voting on college campuses helped boost turnout.

The legal fight over the Florida law is ongoing, however. Republican lawmakers passed a law this year blocking voting at locations without “sufficient non-permitted parking,” which Democrats and civil rights groups say is a new way to implement the same restriction. On Monday, they filed an amended lawsuit seeking to strike the new law, as well.

A new kind of participation


New Hampshire state Rep. Garrett Muscatel (D), left, takes a call during a break at the State House in Concord. (Sarah Rice/For The Washington Post)

In New Hampshire, the new residency law has yet to be implemented because of the ongoing lawsuit. Turnout, meanwhile, jumped in the state last fall and helped Democrats take over the state’s House and Senate. Its five largest college communities saw turnout increases from 2014 to 2018 of between 31 percent and 56 percent, according to America Votes, a liberal voting-rights group.

Caroline Casey, a rising junior at Dartmouth and a plaintiff alongside Flaherty in the ACLU case, said that if anything the new law has made her more engaged in New Hampshire politics — even though she’s from Louisiana.

“It made me kind of up my level of involvement,” she said. “I got really passionate about educating people, about raising awareness of the importance of voting rights for all students.”

The new Democratic-controlled legislature repealed the residency law this year, although Sununu has signaled that he will veto the repeal.

Among the new Democratic lawmakers who voted for repeal is state Rep. Garrett Muscatel (D), a 21-year-old who moved to New Hampshire from California in 2016 to attend Dartmouth. After joining a suit against an early version of the residency law, he decided to run for office.

“The only way to stop voter suppression,” said Muscatel, now a rising senior, “was to get in the legislature myself.”

Alice Crites contributed to this report.

Amy GardnerAmy Gardner joined The Washington Post in 2005. She has worked stints in the Virginia suburbs, covered the 2010 midterms and the tea party revolution, and covered the Republican presidential nominating contest in 2011-2012. She was a politics editor for five years and returned to reporting in 2018.