Voter intent.....registration eligibility
Let's say that Barbara Jones moves to NC ..she gets a job, and couch surfs at a friend's place..
She registers to vote because she lives there....right??
Okay..fast forward a few months and she's lost her job & decides that she likes NC. She decides to go to college there to perk up her skills for a better job. Her financial aid allows her to live at a dorm (great news to her friend)..
Does she now NOT "live there"?
Anyone who moves anywhere, cannot know what the future holds for them, or how long they will live there.. When you make a commitment to live in a different place, you have MOVED there. You might or might not decide to drive a vehicle or to register to vote, but while you are LIVING there...buying food, going to the bank, to the movies, to the malls, you ARE a resident, and you do LIVE THERE..
Will you ALWAYS live there? Will you live there for 10 weeks? 2 years? 30 years? Who knows?.. What matters is that you are living there NOW.
A college dorm is just an apartment building within a campus, and the rent is paid to the college, but it is paid to an entity that resides within a community within a state.
It should not be up to a "board of elections" to decide whether or not one is a resident..especially when it's obvious that they DO live there if they live on-campus.
A contrary conclusion could be arrived at if the student actually lived at home (in a nearby state) and crossed state borders as a day-student...returning home to sleep at the family home.
Local community curmudgeons may bristle at "outsiders" voting in their local elections, or diluting their votes in national elections, but they sure don't mind when those kids plunk down money in the local stores.