Concord, NH- Members of the House Election Law Committee released the following joint statement after the passage of SB418, relative to verification of voter affidavits, on a vote of 180-154.
House Election Law Chair Barbara Griffin (R-Goffstown)
“SB418 continues to allow anyone who comes to the polling location on Election Day to cast a ballot. This bill does not address citizenship, it addresses positive identification, a requirement in voting which has been upheld as legal across the country. This is a meaningful verification of that identification within seven days of the election. In 2020 there were 733 people who voted in our election without any identification, and 260 of those were left unverified after follow-up by the Secretary of State. This bill will fix this issue and ensure that the votes counted in our election are cast by those qualified to vote here.”
“Further, this bill would have no effect on military and overseas ballots, as the time period of affidavit verification has been decreased from 10 days to 7 days, which the Secretary of State’s office has indicated is adequate time to deal with the issuance of those ballots.”
Rep. Ross Berry (R-Manchester)
“There seems to be a narrative that Republicans are afraid of high voter turnout. Republicans are not afraid of turnout, we just won an election with the highest voter turnout in state history. The problem is that New Hampshire voters are rapidly losing confidence in our elections. Here in the state of New Hampshire, there is absolutely nothing required of you to vote. If you don’t have your identification, all you have to do is sign a piece of paper. This bill addresses those people who are showing up to the polling location on Election Day who are not registered to vote and who are registering to vote with nothing. If we want to increase voter turnout, we need to give the people a system that they can have faith in. That is what SB418 does.”
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