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Vote totals and referendum talk aside, another question of interest for tomorrow's special election for State Representative is whether or not the son of the Speaker of the House will vote in it.
Brendan O'Brien is a college senior at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine and chair of the Maine College Republicans. Last year, Brendan was also a State Representative candidate for Maine House District 73 - just months before he voted in the New Hampshire General Election.
According to the New Hampshire voter file, Brendan O'Brien voted in the New Hampshire Primary and General Election in 2008 from a home address in Mont Vernon, NH. He voted in the Maine General Election in 2009 from his college address in Lewiston, ME. In 2010 he secured a nomination as a State Representative primary candidate in Maine, then withdrew his name shortly after to allow the Republican Party to replace him with a more senior Republican. (Maine has a straw poll system that allows the Party to place a name on the ballot then replace it at a later date.)
Brendan went on to vote in New Hampshire's General Election in 2010 - in his father's district.
Now before the trolls go wild, I'll be quick to note that Brendan has every right to vote in Maine or New Hampshire or anywhere else he is living at the time. There does seem to be a significant question around whether he should have submitted his name for office - and the Maine State Constitution states a candidate must be resident of the state for 1 year - but we'll leave that to Maine pols to discuss.
But curiosity remains - will he vote in the New Hampshire special election this week, in the district he grew up in? Based on his voting history, it seems young O'Brien goes wherever he thinks he will have the most impact. I heard James Pindell was on the news this morning saying that if the vote is even close it'll be a blow to O'Brien; Fergus Cullen just posted on Red Hampshire that we need to "keep special elections in perspective."
Given this hype, will all of the O'Briens be making their way home to vote?
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