New Hampshire Republicans on Monday renewed their ongoing efforts to limit voting rights for the states relatively large population of college students a move that student and voting rights groups say is a blatant attempt to suppress the votes of college students in an effort to improve GOP odds of victory in statewide and congressional elections.

Election law committees in both chambers of the New Hampshire legislature held hearings Monday on multiple pieces of legislation that would make it harder, and in some cases impossible, for most college students to vote in the Granite State, where college students make up roughly 11% of the population , a larger share than in any other state.

Voting rights groups say the bills take aim at the 70% of New Hampshire college students who move there from out of state to attend school. One bill would remove college IDs from the list of acceptable forms of identification under the states existing voter ID law. Another would prohibit college students from using their campus address as their legal place of domicile, which would make it virtually impossible for many out-of-state students to register to vote. A third bill would make it harder for college students to register in New Hampshire if they maintain an address in another state.

This legislation is nothing more than a desperate attempt to concentrate political power and purge youth voters from participating in the democratic process, Dow Drucker, a graduate student at the University of New Hampshire, told lawmakers during Mondays state House hearing. Instead of discouraging student voters in the state, there needs to be more of an effort to provide adequate voting resources and make it easier for college students to participate. Instead of attacking students interest in civic engagement, we should be rewarding it.