It is unfortunate that voting in college towns has been an issue for Republicans. Same-day registrations could be a positive effort to get out the vote, but the Democrats have pushed the envelope too far.

I represented Farmington, home of the University of Maine at Farmington, for four terms (1996-2002). I won by about 1,000 votes or more, except in my fourth term. In November 2000, UMF graduate Brian Camire, a Democrat, was my opponent and he had a lot of friends at UMF. It was a presidential election year.

On voting day, I spent most of the day at the polls and watched busload after busload of UMF students being unloaded to vote. I was impressed. No Republicans were involved in setting up the convoy.

That day, Farmington had 700 same-day registrations and the estimate was that 650 were UMF students. I won the election by 300 votes.

I obtained a list of the same-day registrations and was going to do some checking to make sure no double voting happened. I didn’t have the time.

College towns are ripe for pushing the Democratic liberal agenda.

Charlie Webster, state Republican chairman, should be thanked for his effort to repeal same-day registration.

The year 2012 is a presidential election year, and opportunity exists for both parties to gain college student votes. But same-day registration should not be returned.

Walter Gooley, Farmington