"I looked around to see what I could do to be of help to my country," Samp says. "I like politics, anyway."

35 Years

During the more than three decades he has served on the commission, Samp says he has seen the evolution of both Cambridge politics and Cambridge elections.

Most notably, the Democrats in Cambridge have become more liberal, while the Election Commission has become more professional, Samp says.

As an election commissioner, Samp says one of his most difficult tasks has been determining would-be voters' eligibility.

"We went after policemen and firemen and teachers who did not live in the city but claimed the city as their residence," Samp says. "Many believed that if you were born in Cambridge, you had a right to vote in Cambridge for the rest of your life no matter where you lived."

Samp says the crackdown was necessary because people who are not residents of Cambridge "find it politically advantageous" to vote in Cambridge.

Samp recalls that students at Harvard and MIT began to register to vote in earnest after the passage of the 26th Amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

"When a student [became] eligible to register at 18, he had three years to go at school," Samp says. "There was much more readiness on his part to register to vote in Cambridge."

But Samp says it bothers him that students who are registered to vote in Cambridge do not necessarily consider the city their home.

"Most students were just using Harvard as a way station for something else," Samp says. "They didn't consider Cambridge their residence except when they registered to vote."

In order to make students more aware of their Massachusetts citizenship, Samp says he once suggested distributing income tax forms with voter registration forms as a reminder that their responsibilities as taxpayers are as important as their rights as citizens.

"That went over like a lead balloon," the retiring commissioner recalls with a laugh.

Dead Men Don't Vote

Just as it is difficult to determine whether one is eligible to vote, it is also difficult to determine who is no longer able to vote, Samp says.