To the Editor:

Not only do our local college students have the ability to—and do—vote multiple times, many of them have been foolish enough to boast of their actions.

Due to its easy access, my classroom at Lewiston Middle School was used as a voting site for many years in the 1980s and ’90s. Students from the nearby college would arrive on Election Day and were allowed to register on site so they could cast a ballot in local and national elections.

Many of the newly enrolled “voters” were allowed to cast a ballot based on their address, as long as it was within the ward and precinct lines for that area. Having previously voted by absentee ballot from their home state, many of them were foolish enough to boast of their accomplishments as they paraded past my office.

This practice is not limited to Lewiston only. At the age of 21, my first voting experience was by absentee ballot from my hometown of Lewiston. Even in 1968, I was approached to register on Election Day, give my Bangor address and vote without the Bangor voter registration board knowing that I had already cast a ballot from Lewiston.

This practice is nothing new. For anyone to think otherwise only shows how disconnected some people are to the realities of how elections can be “stolen.”

Michael McClure

Lewiston