POUGHKEEPSIE – The provision in the newly adopted state budget that requires college campuses to set up polling places for students to vote on campus is a bad law, Republican Dutchess County Elections Commissioner Erik Haight says.
The provision was precipitated by Haight’s efforts to block on-campus voting at Bard College two years ago.
He said there are pitfalls to the new law.
“For a student that is registered at home in another state, there is no way to stop them from voting twice,” he said. But, there are safeguards in place to prevent people from being registered to vote in two different counties within New York.”
To allow college students to vote on campus will “disenfranchise” others in the community, Haight said.
The new law, which will take effect in the fall election, will apply to campuses where at least 300 people live at the school.
