CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – The New Hampshire attorney general’s office says students learning remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic can still vote in their college towns if they previously established residency in the state.

The state Republican Party recently argued that college students living elsewhere during the pandemic shouldn’t be allowed to vote in their college towns if they don’t have a current address in those communities.

But in a letter to the party’s lawyer on Wednesday, an assistant attorney general says that once students lawfully establish a domicile for voting, they don’t lose that status due to a temporary absence.