NH Voter Database, Election Integrity Commission Lawsuit Dropped

CONCORD, NH — Two elected officials and the ACLU who had planned to sue the state to keep it from releasing the voter registration database to the recently formed Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity have dropped their lawsuit after Bill Gardner agreed to only release pictures of voter information. The plaintiffs pointed to state law that limits access to statewide list for political purposes and limits other access to viewing at the state archives or purchasing public checklists from each municipality and stated that the release would violate the law. Gardner, according to press statement by Anne Edwards, an associate attorney general, argued that the state’s open records law, NH RSA 91-A, required the release of the marked voter checklists maintained by the state.

When the commission made the request, he agreed. Gardner, a registered Democrat, also serves on the commission. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Concord NH Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

The specific statute – NH RSA 654:31 – limits access to the checklist to specific organizations and how they can obtain access, according to the plaintiffs.

A digital version of the database had previously been shared with 27 other states and found that nearly 95,000 Granite Staters were registered in other states.

The plaintiffs, however, prepared a lawsuit to keep Gardner from releasing the list saying it was a violation of the law and that Gardner was putting the public’s privacy at risk. Today, he scoffed at the notion.

“Our office strives to foster a sense of integrity and transparency in the elections process and to help increase voter confidence which in turn increases voter turnout,” Gardner said. “For the ACLU to argue, without justification, that this office would seek to harm the voting public by disclosing historic voter information only served to unnecessarily undermine voter confidence and frustrate the positive and trustworthy impression our office tries to give the voters of New Hampshire.”

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According to Paul Twomey, an attorney, the plaintiffs – state Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, and state Sen. Bette Lasky, D-Nashua – are pleased that Gardner will be obeying the law and also believe that the laws relating to the disclosure of voter information need to be tightened so voters are even further protected in the future and pledge to work in a nonpartisan manner to bring about such changes.

“We are happy that the Secretary of State is not entitled to grant the Commission special, unwritten exemptions that circumvent New Hampshire law,” stated Gilles Bissonnette, Legal Director of the ACLU of NH. “He must apply the law to the Commission no differently than he would apply the law to a regular member of the public seeking this information."

Digital copies of the statewide voter list, as noted by many proponents of the commission, have been bought and sold by political organizations in the state for a number of years. Many of the same individuals complaining about the release of the data to the commission – like past leaders of the New Hampshire Democratic Party – have been involved in purchasing and selling the lists. The NHDP sued the state to allow release of the digital copies in order to sell the lists back to a number of candidates running during the New Hampshire Primary season in 2007-2008.

Private individuals and the press can gain access to certain voter information from local town and city clerks and at the state archives including the name and address of a voter, party affiliation, and voter activity, including access to the physical voter checklists. Electronic lists are also available to the public and the press for purchase from city and town clerks.

The release of pictures – not digital – copies of the list doesn’t prevent the election commission – or anyone – from manually creating a database; it just makes the task arduous.

Another provision in the section – NH RSA 654:31-a – allows access to all voter information, including absentee ballots and voter affidavits, to law enforcement for the investigation or prosecution of crimes unrelated to election law violations shall be limited to the records of the specific individuals who are the subject of the investigation or prosecution.