Rep. Bob Thorpe is trying to block students from voting where they go to school by introducing HB 2461, which would ban students’ use of an address for voting purposes at which they don’t reside for 12 months each year.
Thorpe’s argument for this bill is one-sided in favor of businesses who are opposed to the 2016 vote in Flagstaff to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. The fact that the minimum wage raise was passed 2-1 or higher in precincts within or near the NAU campus has him angry, saying that this was unfair to businesses. He implied that students should have no say about minimum wages here because they don’t live here year around. Well, this is what I say.
As I go around shopping and eating out in Flagstaff, I see many of the employees are college students who are working minimum wages jobs to pay for their education. Why shouldn’t they have a say in what the minimum wage is? In today’s world, students have a hard time financing their education, often having loans that take them many years to pay off. Frankly, this makes me angry. I hope Thorpe’s bill goes nowhere.
PHYLLIS KEGLEY
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