Well, that didn’t take long . . .
Shortly after election day, Liberty Alliance member, Rep. Bob Lynn (R-Windham), has now decided to make voting harder for those who vote by absentee ballot. HB 1569, a new law that went into effect just five days after the Nov. 5th elections, now calls for all voters to show ID at the polls or forfeit their right to vote. Additionally, all new voters are now required to show documentation proving their US citizenship with a birth certificate, passport, or any other accepted forms of documentation. Previously, voter affidavits were used on election day with the voter signing and swearing to the fact that he/she is who he/she claims to be. Additionally, they had 7 days to bring this proof to their city or town clerk or risk having their ballot, which is set aside, from being discarded.
Feeling victorious, Rep. Lynn is now looking to make the basic right of voting harder for even more New Hampshire voters. He is now proposing legislation to include all new absentee voters in proving their citizenship.
But wait! Rep. Lynn now wants to assist voters unable to afford a copy of their birth certificate from a different state, so he has submitted more proposed new legislation. This new legislation (in two parts) is intended to permit the Secy. of State’s Office use of databases affirming a voter’s declared citizenship. Lynn’s proposed bill would call for a city/town clerk or election official to contact the Secy. of State’s Office (SoS) if a resident is attempting to register to vote but doesn’t have the correct documentation. It then becomes the duty of the SoS to make appropriate attempts in deciding whether the individual is a US citizen or not.
The second part seeks to give financial aid to individuals needing to get their birth certificate or other accepted citizenship document. An affidavit would need to be signed, (funny how THAT affidavit would be acceptable for Rep. Lynn) affirming they can’t afford to pay any fees and the city/town would cover the fee with a voucher. The city/town would then be reimbursed by the SoS’s Office.
Where is all this money going to come from to access databases and reimbursements to individual cities and towns? Will the Republican majority take it from the private school voucher system and transfer it to the affidavit voucher system? Or will they just turn to the already overburdened property owner and throw more unnecessary taxes their way?
Fun fact #1: This past election, 832,549 NH voters cast a ballot. Twenty-seven used a (now repealed) affidavit ballot, with 3 voters mailing their required documents within the time frame to their city/town clerk. Out of 832,549 voters only 24 ballots were discarded. The system was not only working, it wasn’t even broken.
Fun fact #2: As of this writing there are a couple of lawsuits that were filed against HB 1569.
Fun fact #2a: According to Republicans who pushed for HB 1569, although the affidavits are legally binding and voters who use them dishonestly can later be investigated and prosecuted, they claim those prosecutions won’t cancel the individual vote itself. They insist that could wrongly influence an election.
Fun fact #2b: see Fun fact #1.
Fun fact #3: NH is the only state in the country requiring proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in a federal election.
Fun (but disturbing) fact #4: According to a report from the Voting Rights Lab, there are more than 560 new national laws concerning elections now in effect since 2020.
Wise words from Frank . . .
“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt