Flagstaff Rep. Thorpe targets student, ‘snowbird’ voting changes in proposal

From Arizona Daily Sun, January 20, 2020.  Howard Fischer, Capital Media Services.

The proposal by Rep. Bob Thorpe, R-Flagstaff, would create an exception to existing law that says someone is a resident for voting purposes based on actual physical presence “with an intent to remain.”

HB 2461 would spell out that anyone who is living in a dormitory “or other temporary college or university address” is presumed to be there only temporarily and is there “with intent to return to some other permanent address.

Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is the state’s chief election official, said what Thorpe is proposing works against what she has been trying to do.

We’ve have a pretty clear record here in my office of working to try to engage students, make it easier for them to be able to register to vote in the place that they choose to do so,” she told Capitol Media Services.