Clearing the Air About Voter ID Primary Lies

So we're back from the Democratic National Convention in
Charlotte. Nobody leaves home for a while without paying a penalty for their absence. We came back to houseplants crying for water; grass long enough that wild animals could hide in it; piles of dirty clothes high enough to qualify for a miniature mountain range; literally hundreds of unopened emails; and a forbidding stack of junk mail.

One personal story from the convention remains untold. In an
earlier blog, I advised that if you want to appear on national television at
one of these events, just wear weird clothes and act goofy. A friend of mine did
just that, perhaps not because of my advice, but rather that's just the way he
is naturally. As a result, a video of him dancing crazily (and badly) appeared
on late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel's program. Kimmel crowned him the
convention's "Dancer of the Night."

My friend received a lot of kidding from us, but I had the feeling he wasn't entirely displeased with his new-found notoriety. Well, it turns out that delegates don't necessarily have to seek attention in order toget it.  My wife and I appeared in a crowd shot on the front page of the New York Times. That caused our relatives armed with magnifying glasses to play "Where's Waldo, Gary and Lenore?" with the photograph.

Less flattering was a picture of my wife and me shown on the home page of Slate.com, an Internet news source. We were seated in the stands at the convention. I had my glasses perched on my head and was looking to my
right at a large teleprompter. My wife was pointing straight ahead at someone
she recognized on the convention floor. That's what we were doing, but that's
not how the photograph was presented.

The picture was entitled "Confused delegates at the convention." And, in truth, if you didn't know any better, we did look like a completely lost older couple, the husband looking helplessly to his right and his wife pointing her finger and indicating, "No, we should go straight ahead.  . . I think."  Being senior citizens,
naturally,  according to conventional wisdom, we just had to be confused.

Actually, my reason for writing this blog is not to ruminate
about the convention.  As soon as we returned home, we were thrust unceremoniously into New Hampshire politics. The Primary Election is this coming Tuesday,  Sept. 11. And it is a very important one. Many people are pretty blasé about primaries, and don't bother to vote.

If you are a Democrat or an Independent who votes the
Democratic ballot, skipping the primary this time would be a very serious
mistake.  We will be choosing our candidate for Governor. A hotly-contested race pits Democrats Maggie Hassan, Jackie Cilley, and Bill Kennedy against one another.  We want our best candidate to prevail.

During the past two years, Democrats were able to defeat harmful
Republican legislation through the use of the governor's veto. Even though the
State House and State Senate were overwhelmingly Republican, many times, these bodies couldn't override Governor Lynch's vetoes.

If the State House and Senate remain Republican and a Republican governor is
elected next November, nothing will remain to stop the GOP from passing all
sorts of detrimental legislation into law. Democrats absolutely must hold the
governorship.

And to do that, we must select in the Primary a qualified, centrist candidate who can garner votes in the November General Election from all points along the political spectrum. I argued in a previous blog that candidate is Maggie Hassan.

One thing more about the Primary Election. We have heard much about the recently-passed photo ID bill. Let's be clear about what it requires voters to do. First, you will be asked to show a photo ID which confirms your identity.

However, alternatively, if you don't have a photo ID, you can sign a statement that attests that you are the person you claim to be. In either case, you can and have a right to vote. Nothing can stop you from voting. Show a photo ID or sign a statement, and you will vote. That procedure will be followed in both the Primary Election and the November General Election.

Some people are attempting to take advantage of the confusion surrounding the photo ID bill to discourage people from voting. A few  signs have been posted claiming that you must have a photo ID to vote. That is not true. .

Voting preserves and guarantees our democracy.  Do not allow you vote to be taken away from you.  Vote in the primary on Tuesday, Sept. 11.