OK. I confess. I drove the bus accused by Charlie Webster of transporting illegal voters to the Farmington polls. Want the real story?

In 2006, Farmington Democrats rented a van (not a bus) as an attention-grabber to remind college students to vote. We parked in front of the University of Maine at Farmington cafeteria with a sign saying, “Don’t forget to vote — free ride to the polls.” Student housing is all within a 5-minute walk of the voting site. I assume most students walked because I only transported about a dozen students all day. We used the van as a traveling billboard to remind students to vote.

I don’t know how many students registered to vote on Election Day or how many were already registered, but the election clerk certified that students who voted were eligible.

Encouraging your potential constituency to vote is legal. It is also legal for college students to vote where they attend school.

As for students voting twice, I sincerely doubt it. It’s hard enough to get students to vote once.

More than 80 percent of UMF students are Maine residents, so voting in Farmington is voting in their home state.

Webster reminds me of Chicken Little, who was hit in the head by an acorn and ran around yelling that the sky was falling.

In short, “The Act to Preserve the Integrity of the Voter Registration and Election Process” has nothing to do with preserving anything except a Republican win on Election Day.

Karen Schuler, Industry