State House Dome: Check your registration status, NH voters

Sep. 16—THE TOPIC ISN'T sexy, but it's a pivotal one for New Hampshire voters.

By setting the presidential candidate filing period of Oct. 11-27, Secretary of State David Scanlan has created an important new deadline.

If you are a Republican or Democrat and want to vote for someone in the other party, you have 19 days to make that change. All registered voters will be locked in their status at the close of business on Friday, Oct. 6.

This is not a tiny group of voters. Senior Deputy Secretary of State Patricia Lovejoy of Stratham has learned that the hard way in many past elections.

Independents who vote in a primary often fail to stop at the table on the way out of the polling place to switch their status back to undeclared, not realizing that casting a vote in a party's primary makes them a registered member of that party.

When they show up to vote again in an election, many are livid to learn that they no longer are free-agent independents, she said

"Voters get real upset, but there's nothing we can do. I tell voters all the time, call or visit your town or city clerk and check your registration status. Make sure you are an independent, if that is what you want to be," Lovejoy said.

Pre-primary polling in New Hampshire will be off, and this will be one of the reasons.

No poll is measuring the Democratic-leaning independents who will take a Republican ballot.

And no algorithm measures the number of Republican-leaning independents who will take a Democratic ballot.

But they will show up in significant numbers at the polls.

President Joe Biden's decision to boycott New Hampshire will cause more Democratic-leaning independents to want to stomp around in the GOP sandbox.

Chief among them are critics of former President Donald Trump who want a different choice in November 2024.

Who will they gravitate to? It's too early to say. Some may pick the biggest Trump bomb-thrower, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Some neo-con thinkers may go with ex-U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. Others still shocked by the Jan. 6, 2021, episode could want to reward former Vice President Mike Pence.

Meanwhile, in the other party, the crowd at every New Hampshire event for Democratic challenger Robert F. Kennedy Jr. contains Republicans or R-leaning independents who loathe both Biden and Trump and would love to stiff both by voting for Kennedy.

NH: Purple reign

The argument rages on over whether New Hampshire has become more blue. Democrats point to winning nine of the past 10 congressional elections. The GOP notes Gov. Chris Sununu's record-tying four terms as chief executive.

The latest voter registration numbers from Scanlan's office tell the story: New Hampshire is as evenly divided politically as it's possible to measure.

Democrats remain the "majority" party with 276,332 registered voters — by only 818 voters. The GOP has 275,514 registered voters.

That's the smallest margin of majority for either party since these statistics were first compiled in 1970.

Democrats have an advantage of less than one-tenth of one percent.

Given a competitive presidential primary, it's not kooky to theorize that after the January vote, Republicans will become the majority party for the first time since 2019.

If past is prologue, Democrats could grab it back in another primary down the road.

The reality is independents continue to dominate. Their 344,817 affiliation is 7.5% bigger than either party.

Bill filing gun goes off

Say something nice to Legislative Services Director Dave Alukonis and his staff if you see them.

All just survived their version of "Hell Week," as House members presented all proposed bill ideas for the 2024 session in a five-day period.

The proposed titles are not out yet, but the betting is they could number in the 800 range and run the policy gamut from taxes, education, guns and abortion to the PFOA contamination, gender identity and labor protection issues.

Study committees get a few more months to come up with their proposals, and the House Rules Committee also has the authority to give permission for other lawmakers to present late-filed bills if there's a good reason.

Lawmakers back at work

Policy committees are getting back together this week to finish work on more than 200 bills they decided to retain from the 2023 session.

The House Ways and Means Committee meets Tuesday on a variety of tax bills.

On Wednesday, the House Commerce Committee tackles more than a dozen bills, including PFOA legislation.

On Friday, House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Chairman Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, and colleagues tackle nearly a half-dozen bail reform bills.

Roy has promised Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, that his panel would make an effort to reach consensus on this issue, which has divided the two branches for nearly five years.

Sanborn hearing coming

As expected, former state Sen. Andy Sanborn has asked the New Hampshire Lottery Commission to let his Win, Win, Win LLC and Concord Casino challenge the lifetime license suspensions Attorney General John Formella is seeking over allegations Sanborn fraudulently secured a COVID-19 relief loan and bought three sports cars with the proceeds.

A hearing will take place over the next month.

A location hasn't been selected, but it's not likely to be at the lottery conference room, which is adorned with splashy, pro-gambling paraphernalia.

For this unprecedented proceeding, a neutral, more adjudicative site is being sought. The state Public Utilities Commission at 21 South Fruit St. in Concord is a leading contender.

The Charitable Gaming Operators Association's recently elected slate of new officers does not include Sanborn.

He nominated himself for secretary and treasurer but won neither office.

Steve Szapor, with the Brook Casino in Seabrook, is president. Aaron Gomes is secretary, and Dick Anagnost is treasurer.

Big money in House race

The campaign cash pile gets higher in Tuesday's Rockingham County District 1 special election.

Democratic candidate and former Nottingham selectman and school board member Hal Rafter could break the $50,000 mark, already having raised more than $47,000.

His latest report showed big checks pouring in across the country from donors in California, Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Colorado, New York, Washington and Illinois.

He gave nearly $13,000 of that to the House Democratic Victory Campaign Committee, which already had more than $25,000 available for this race.

The Committee to Elect House Republicans recently raised more than $20,000, spending $8,000 on digital ads for a streaming barrage in the two-town House district.

The race is tight between Rafter and GOP nominee and Northwood selectman James Guzofski.

Gendreau in the hot seat

State Sen. and Selectboard member Carrie Gendreau, R-Littleton, was the target last week of 200 people who came to criticize comments she made about LGBTQ+ artwork on a privately owned building in the downtown.

"What went up is not good ... I don't want that to be in our town," Gendreau was quoted as saying.

Nearly 30 spoke out as her foes toted signs that read, "Everyone Belongs."

Gendreau issued a statement after the testimony saying, "I believe it is incredibly important to hear the diverse viewpoints of our community and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to listen and take these sentiments to heart."

Seven degrees of NH

Unsurprisingly, there is a Granite State political connection to U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who announced last week that he would not seek a second term.

Liz Johnson, Romney's chief of staff, has a lengthy resume, which includes work for former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, now running for governor.

Last week, Ayotte's campaign announced the formation of a 130-member Law Enforcement Coalition backing her run, led by Hillsborough County Sheriff Chris Connelly.

Planned Parenthood moves

Sara Persechino ended her stint as campaign/communications director for the Planned Parenthood of New England and New Hampshire Action Fund. Executive Vice President Kayla Montgomery is taking over media duties in the interim.

Look for Persechino, the Hopkinton town moderator, to reemerge soon in a media relations role with a different organization.

Former Congressman on mend

Former 2nd District Congressman and talk show host Paul Hodes is recovering from a fall that gave him a serious concussion.

"Thanks to all of you who've reached out about me and my brain. It's been quite an up and down. I'm recovering but I think it's going to take a while; screen time is still a killer," Hodes posted on social media last week.

"My energy is coming back slowly, in fits and starts ... I ended up with pretty severe neck whiplash from the clonk and that's still bugging me. So, there you have it, basically all good news."

Pushing concussion awareness

U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., led a bipartisan resolution recognizing Friday as National Concussion Awareness Day.

Granite Stater Brooke Mills, a high school freshman who suffered a concussion, came up with this idea while Hassan was governor.

Hassan has been spearheading the yearly recognition since 2019.

Sununu's road show

Sununu might have left his heart in New Hampshire, but he headed back to San Francisco last week.

He spoke at the annual Dreamforce Conference hosted by Salesforce, along with Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb.

It was a homecoming of sorts for Sununu, who lived with wife Valerie in the Golden Gate City shortly after they were married. They were married for a month before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Marchand warned again

Attorney General John Formella's office said former Portsmouth Mayor and two-time candidate for governor Steve Marchand broke the law by not disclosing that he was behind derogatory ads aimed at then-Mayor Rick Becksted and four former city councilors in 2021.

The AG closed this case with a warning because there was no evidence that anyone acted with him.

Last year the AG's office said Marchand was responsible for an anonymous "Preserve-Portsmouth.com" website, fliers and texts targeting Becksted and allies and linking them to former President Trump.

In both matters, the AG cited a federal court ruling that individuals are exempt from disclosure laws as long as they are not part of an organization acting in concert.

Congrats to House staffer

The Council of State Governments picked House Deputy Chief of Staff Debra Childs to be one of 30 individuals who took part last month in the Robert J. Thompson Eastern Leadership Academy Fellowship Program in Philadelphia.

Border wall backer in NH

Chris Clem, the retired chief patrol agent with the U.S. Border Patrol in the Southern United States, comes to New Hampshire Sept. 27 as part of the "Pints and Politics" series at the Backyard Brewery and Kitchen in Manchester.

Clem is the guest of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation.

He led patrols along the Mexican border with western Arizona and eastern California.

Kevin Landrigan is State House Bureau Chief for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. Contact him at klandrigan@unionleader.com.