A recent bill stuck in the New Hampshire Legislature would require anyone registering to vote to show certain documentation, either passports or birth certificates, prior to registering.
The bill is left in a state of uncertainty as Governor Chris Sununu has not yet signed it into law; there is no clear intent that he even wants to. Furthermore, the bill was only signed by House Speaker Sherman Packard on July 10, but there was no signature from Senate President Jeb Bradley.
The absence of signatures from both the Senate President and the Governor lead me to believe that the passing of this bill into law is not urgent – for good reason.
The purpose of this bill is to ensure that all people registering to vote in the state NH are actual citizens. Currently, NH procedures allow people who do not have any documentation to sign an affidavit saying they are eligible to vote in this state.
Personally, I feel an affidavit is somewhat unreliable and more credible forms of documentation should be required. However, requiring proof of a birth certificate or passport seems excessive and overwhelming if it were to be required for this upcoming election. If the bill was signed into law by Sununu, it would go into effect 60 days later, making the change very short notice for those registering to vote in the state.
Since it would be hard to educate voters about the law in this short amount of time, I suspect this would cause an uproar from the majority of voters. This turmoil would most likely either come from a state of disagreement or the lack of funds to retrieve these documents. It can be expensive and time-consuming to get access to these forms of identification so close to the election, causing more stress among those looking to vote. Additionally, there would be new training required for officials so they would know what documents are acceptable.
NH is also not covered by NVRA (National Voter Registration Act) requirements, making it so people are allowed to register to vote on the day of the election. Since NH is exempt from this act, the sudden need for documentation would put that exemption at risk. If that exemption was withdrawn, the NVRA would require a series of federal registration requirements costing upwards of six million dollars.
I understand the point of the bill, as they are coming from a place of concern about illegal aliens coming in and trying to vote. According to the Pew Research Center, the number of unauthorized immigrants entering the United States in 2022 was 11 million. However, I think it is hard to assess the amount of people coming into the country trying to vote illegally, let alone the state of New Hampshire.
There have been very few instances in this state where people are trying to do so. That being said, I do not disagree with the idea of the bill. I think providing proof of citizenship through either a passport or birth certificate is much more credible than an affidavit, but I think these requirements are too short-notice and would be tough to manage before the upcoming election.
If the bill was passed into law after the election, there would be much more time to educate both citizens and officials about the new rulings, providing years to both access these documents and receive the proper training needed. In addition, there would be more time to assess if there was enough funds for the six million dollars worth of registration requirements from the NVRA.
It does not seem like passing this bill into law is a huge concern right now, as Representative Bob Lynn said he “wouldn’t be disappointed if it isn’t in effect in time for the Nov. 5 election.” He does, however, want to ensure that it does get passed at some point, to which I agree, as I feel more time is needed to assess this bill.
Jaden Johnson can be contacted at
jaden.johnson@keene.edu
