Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2005/04/08/let_my_people_vote.php
Friday, April 8, 2005
New Hampshire Libertarians took to the Green last Friday to demand the right to vote in the College's alumni Trustee election. While aware that election rules only permit alumni of the College to vote in the election, Michael Lorrey, an organizer of the protest, noted that "we have endured years of pontificating and sermonizing by holier-than-thou politically correct Dartmouth professors, so we feel like we've earned the requisite credit hours." The protesters held signs that read "let my people vote," a biblical allusion to Pharaoh's enslavement of the Hebrews. One wonders if the Connecticut might turn to blood if they are not allowed to vote.
The Libertarians claim to have been motivated by what they say was rampant fraud in the 2002 and 2004 state elections. Maintaining that Dartmouth students, who are only temporary residents in New Hampshire, should not be allowed to vote in state elections, Lorrey and friends challenged over 400 ballots cast by students in 2002. For unknown reasons, Hanover town officials prevented the voting rights activists from challenging voters this past year.
While President James Wright did not emerge from his Parkhurstian palace to benevolently bestow voting rights, the Libertarians did circulate an e-mail afterwards with instructions for further action. Declaring "now is the time to send in your 'ballots,'" the e-mail asked supporters to "vote by sending along with your ballot any proof of NH residency, such as a receipt from a NH pizza parlor or Chinese restaurant. If you do not have positive ID such as a Restaurant Guest Slip, swear out an affidavit and sign X. Or just say your [sic] homeless, then they have to take it."
The protest lasted from noon to 12:10pm, after which those assembled dispersed to have lunch.