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Report: House Speaker O'Brien's son had dual voter registration
CONCORD – The son of House Speaker William O’Brien voted in Maine elections and ran for state office in Maine while a student at Bates College in Lewiston, according to a report in a Maine newspaper.
About six months later, the elder O’Brien spoke out against students, who are from outside New Hampshire but attend college in the state, being allowed to vote in New Hamsphire college towns.
According to a report in the Lewiston Sun Journal, O’Brien’s son, Brendan, through no fault of his own, had dual voter registration in Maine and New Hampshire. He told the Sun Journal that he was one of numerous college students who live outside of Maine, but vote in Maine while attending college.
Brendan O’Brien said he wasn’t sure the practice was “right,” the Sun Journal reported.
O’Brien did not return a message left with the House spokesman, Greg Moore, seeking comment.
In January, O’Brien told a group of Conservatives that students in college towns register to vote on Election Day “and are basically doing what I did when I was a kid and foolish, voting as a liberal.
“That’s what kids do,” he said. “They don’t have life experience and they just vote their feelings. And they’ve taken away the town’s ability to govern themselves. It’s not fair.”
A bill introduced in February, HB 176, would have defined students, members of the military and other federal employees in the state on assignment from outside the state as “temporary” residents who would not be allowed to vote in local elections. The bill was deemed inexpedient to legislate by a vote of 276 to 72. No Democrats supported the legislation.
As the Speaker of the House, O’Brien typically presides over votes on bills, and rarely casts a vote. He presided over the defeat of HB 176 and didn’t vote.
According to election results on maine.gov, Brendan O’Brien was nominated by the Republican Party in June 2010 to run for a state representative seat in a district that represents Lewiston, where he was attending Bates College. He withdrew his nomination in July 2010.
Then, in November 2010, he returned to New Hampshire to vote in his hometown, Mont Vernon, the Sun Journal reported. He ended up with dual registration when New Hampshire elections officials didn’t notify Maine officials that he’d voted in another state, the report said.
“The problem isn’t college students exercising their right to vote, its people like Speaker O’Brien pushing anti-American bills infringing on the right to vote,” Harrell Kirstein, spokesman for the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said in a statement.
About six months later, the elder O’Brien spoke out against students, who are from outside New Hampshire but attend college in the state, being allowed to vote in New Hamsphire college towns.
According to a report in the Lewiston Sun Journal, O’Brien’s son, Brendan, through no fault of his own, had dual voter registration in Maine and New Hampshire. He told the Sun Journal that he was one of numerous college students who live outside of Maine, but vote in Maine while attending college.
Brendan O’Brien said he wasn’t sure the practice was “right,” the Sun Journal reported.
O’Brien did not return a message left with the House spokesman, Greg Moore, seeking comment.
In January, O’Brien told a group of Conservatives that students in college towns register to vote on Election Day “and are basically doing what I did when I was a kid and foolish, voting as a liberal.
“That’s what kids do,” he said. “They don’t have life experience and they just vote their feelings. And they’ve taken away the town’s ability to govern themselves. It’s not fair.”
A bill introduced in February, HB 176, would have defined students, members of the military and other federal employees in the state on assignment from outside the state as “temporary” residents who would not be allowed to vote in local elections. The bill was deemed inexpedient to legislate by a vote of 276 to 72. No Democrats supported the legislation.
As the Speaker of the House, O’Brien typically presides over votes on bills, and rarely casts a vote. He presided over the defeat of HB 176 and didn’t vote.
According to election results on maine.gov, Brendan O’Brien was nominated by the Republican Party in June 2010 to run for a state representative seat in a district that represents Lewiston, where he was attending Bates College. He withdrew his nomination in July 2010.
Then, in November 2010, he returned to New Hampshire to vote in his hometown, Mont Vernon, the Sun Journal reported. He ended up with dual registration when New Hampshire elections officials didn’t notify Maine officials that he’d voted in another state, the report said.
“The problem isn’t college students exercising their right to vote, its people like Speaker O’Brien pushing anti-American bills infringing on the right to vote,” Harrell Kirstein, spokesman for the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said in a statement.