The Maine College Democrats took Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage to task Thursday for comments he made about students’ voting rights in 2005.

Ben Goodman, president of the Maine College Democrats and a junior at the University of Maine, said at a press conference in Waterville that by the standards outlined by LePage — the city’s mayor — the candidate himself wouldn’t be eligible to vote in local elections this fall.

“In a 2005 debate, Mayor LePage said essentially that he didn’t believe that college students should participate in local elections, should go out and vote, unless they did two things: They should pay property taxes in town or they should register their car,” Goodman said in an interview. “But Paul LePage doesn’t register his car. He drives a company car, and he doesn’t pay property taxes.”

During the 2005 mayoral debate, LePage also said, “Voting is a responsibility, not a right,” according to an account in the Colby College Echo, the student newspaper.

Dan Demeritt, spokesman for the LePage campaign, said LePage didn’t believe in keeping students from voting in national or statewide races, just local ones.

“His point is, maybe draw a line between the local races and the state and national races,” Demeritt said. “Before students come in and swamp the (election) results for the people who are going to be living and paying taxes in the community — long after the college students have graduated — these kids maybe need to have more stake in the community before they can vote in just those local elections.”

Goodman said it’s “ludicrous” for LePage to talk about residency requirements for voters.

“The fact of the matter is, students have a constitutional right to go out and vote in elections. Mayor LePage loves to pull out his Constitution in debates. Perhaps he should take a look at it,” Goodman said. “College students from across the state aren’t asking for any special tuition breaks or homestead exemptions in multiple states, they’re just looking to come and have a say in policies that affect the communities that they are going out and working hard and contributing into.”

LePage has been criticized recently because of revelations that his wife, Ann, received state property tax breaks in both Maine and Florida by concurrently claiming primary residency in both, which is a violation. The LePage campaign said it was a paperwork error, which Ann LePage has taken steps to correct.

Two of the LePages’ children also claimed residency in Florida and were able to pay in-state tuition at Florida State University for at least part of their time there.

 

MaineToday Media State House Writer Rebekah Metzler can be contacted at 620-7016 or at: rmetzler@centralmaine.com