Senate Approves NH Voter Residency Requirement

CONCORD, NH - The state Senate last week approved a measure last week which would add a 30-day residency requirement before a citizen would be permitted to cast a ballot in a New Hampshire election.

State Sen. Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, who also represents Derry and Windham, and is the chairwoman of Public and Municipal Affairs, said the proposal was needed to provide “additional protections in our electoral system” by adding a residency requirement. She added that the proposal was a common sense.

“If passed into law, New Hampshire will join 22 other states with up to a 30-day voter residency requirement and we take an important step towards protecting the integrity of our state’s elections,” she said. “We owe it to our citizens to ensure that those who are in the voting booth next to them have a vested interest in the communities they are impacting through elections.”

This bill, she added, was widely supported by Granite State voters and by New Hampshire’s Secretary of State Bill Gardner because it will work to eliminate the occurrences of drive-by-voting in New Hampshire during any election, ensuring the strength of our resident’s votes. A WMUR Granite State Poll on this legislation shows 57 percent of Granite Staters support this common sense measure.

However, state Senate Democrats called the legislation unconstitutional and suggested it would restrict voter rights. They noted that Gov. Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, had already vetoed a nearly identical bill last year.

“As we have been stating since last year, this legislation will only serve to further complicate the voting process for New Hampshire citizens. SB 4 proposes a new standard for what constitutes a domicile that is more confusing and less concise than the current law,” said state Sen. Bette Lasky, D-Nashua. “Voters need consistency and clarity in their voting laws and this bill fails that test. It is unfortunate that our Republican colleagues continue to push legislation that discourages and disenfranchises our citizens from exercising their fundamental right to vote.”

In 1972, the Supreme Court clearly ruled in Dunn v. Blumstein that durational residency requirements for voting in state and local elections were unconstitutional, according to a press statement.

Since the 2012 election, the NH AG’s Office has been working on analyzing thousands of voter affidavits filed by residents without proper identification or proof of residency. Two people have been found guilty of vote fraud including a Massachusetts man, a Democrat, who had been voting in the presidential primary for years from an address in Manchester. Last week, a Manchester man was sentenced for illegally voting in Salem and Windham.