Voting residency reform bill sparks partisan dispute
Apr. 4—CONCORD — A House-passed plan to restore voter residency requirements into state election law attracted a partisan dispute before a state Senate panel Monday.
The aim of this bill (HB 1203) is to comply with the Supreme Court ruling that a 2018 election law reform (SB 3) was unconstitutional.
House Election Law Committee Chairman Barbara Griffin, R-Goffstown, said the 2022 legislative session is the first opportunity to make those adjustments.
"We heard testimony addressing changes to the statute which were still on the books but were not rescinded; it does create confusion," Griffin told the Senate Election Laws and Municipal Affairs Committee.
But Rep. Paul Bergeron, D-Nashua, said these House-passed changes would reduce the flexibility local election officials now have to register voters who want to sign up but lack proof that they live at their own address.
It also would compel some voters to sign an affidavit that they would not "ever" have proof of where they live.
"We register homeless people, you are asking them to say, 'Are you going to be homeless for the rest of your life?' That's pretty difficult," Bergeron said.
Griffin said that "ever" designation would only apply to where the homeless person was staying at the time of that election.
The bill would keep in place a two-tiered voting registration system, which means new voters get a different affidavit to sign under penalty of perjury depending on when they register.
Saying the language was badly crafted, Bergeron and other opponents hope that, like past GOP election laws on residency, this too would end up being fought in court.
After last summer's ruling, Gov. Chris Sununu urged lawmakers to come together with a proper replacement, pointing out that New Hampshire was one of only a few states that allowed non-residents to cast a ballot.
The House passed this bill last month, 186-153.
Rep. Timothy Horrigan, D-Durham, had objected to the House using his own bill to make these changes.
The original bill Horrigan wrote would have reduced the link between domicile and residency.
"I'm in the unenviable position of asking you to kill my own bill if you are considering passing it in this form," Horrigan said.
A spokesman for America Votes, a left-leaning interest group, also raised objections with the bill.
The Senate panel did find bipartisan support for some other House-passed bills aimed at improving confidence in the accuracy of election results.
After holding hearings on them Monday, the Senate panel endorsed:
—"Unhooked" voting machines: This bill (HB 1157) would make it against the law for any ballot counting machines used in local or state elections to at any time be connected with the Internet;
—Voting machine tapes: Under this bill (HB 1527), the town would keep one copy and send another to state election officials of the paper tape that summarized all election results coming from each voting machine used in an election.
—Custody of ballot boxes: This bill (HB 1457) contains more specific requirements for logging the custody of the ballot boxes right after the election up until, under existing law, the ballots are destroyed.
