Red state GOP dealt a blow in bid to prevent thousands of college students from voting

Montana Republicans got some bad news on Friday, as a state court blocked a new law that could have prevented thousands of college students in the state from registering to vote.

The law, HB 413, declared that anyone in Montana for "temporary work, training, or [an] educational program" cannot register to vote "without the intention of making that county or the state the individual’s permanent home at the conclusion" of their temporary purpose for being in the state. The challenge was originally filed by the Montana Public Interest Research Group.

According to the liberal legal group Democracy Docket, "Prior to HB 413, anyone was eligible to register as long as they had the intention of making the county their home at the time of registration. The plaintiffs argue that the new law requires students to speculate where they plan to live years in advance — something that is not required of non-students in the state. The group claims that HB 412 violates Montana and the U.S. Constitutions and asks the court to block enforcement of the requirement."

Missoula County District Court Judge Jason Marks agreed with this assessment, enjoining the law from being enforced while litigation continues.

"The Court is unpersuaded by Defendants’ argument that students, including those whose declarations are in the record, will not be harmed because HB 413 'does not bar residency for those with genuine intent to make Montana their home post-temporary purpose,'" wrote Marks. "That is not what HB 413 says. HB 413 bars individuals from gaining residency when they are without the intention of making Montana their 'permanent home' at the conclusion of their temporary purpose."

"In other words, genuine intent to live in Montana for some duration after graduation is not enough; even students who genuinely intend to live in Montana after they graduate are harmed under HB 413 because they are barred from gaining residency unless they can say they will make Montana or the county they currently reside in their permanent home," wrote the judge.

College students are allowed to register to vote in the state where they are attending school in all fifty states, but occasionally Republicans have tried to place restrictions on this to prevent the registration of younger and more liberal voters.

In 2017, New Hampshire Republicans attempted to pass a law that barred anyone from registering to vote without providing "proof of domicile," which would mostly affect the state's relatively large out-of-state college student population. The state Supreme Court struck this law down in 2021.