GST Chairman Ray Chadwick reviewed NH Election Laws for Americans for Tax Reform.
Following is his presentation at the Americans for Tax Reform Right of Center Meeting Wednesday 6/10/20.
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New Hampshire Election Law Overview and Status
NH laws allowed residents of other states to vote in NH.
NH is unique in doing so as 49 states and DC require voters to be residents and prove they are.
Out of state residents registering on election day and then voting in NH get most of the attention.
That practice is the cause of most claims of “massive voter fraud” in New Hampshire.
But that practice had been legal under NH law allowing residents of other states to vote in NH.
That’s what we’ve been fighting to fix through our efforts in 2017 to pass and thereafter to sustain:
SB3 (requires proof of residence when registering) and HB1264 requires voters to be residents.
NH Democrat Party efforts to keep NH voting rights for residents of other states.
6,540 voters registered and voted in NH on Election Day using out-of-state licenses for ID in 2016.
2,246 were licenses from Massachusetts, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 3 to 1.
Democrats won the 2016 election for the US Senate in NH by 1,017 votes. Democrats love this.
Democrats have tried to end the 2017 reforms requiring voters to be residents and prove they are.
Bills passed in the last session to reverse SB3 and HB 1264 were vetoed and vetoes upheld.
NH Sen. Shaheen got Sens. Booker, Gillibrand, and Harris to say we were “suppressing the vote”.
Each of their states has voter laws identical to SB3 and HB1264. Dems aren’t suing them.
NH Democrat Party brought suit against SB3 (show proof that you live in NH to register to vote).
SB3 was declared unconstitutional. Appeal to the NH Supreme Court will be heard this summer.
Federal Suit by NH Democrat Party and ACLU-NH against HB1264 (must be a resident to vote).
Democrats dropped suit after NH Supreme Court (again) declared HB1264 was constitutional.
NH laws also allowed residents of other states to run for and hold office in NH.
In 2018, Dartmouth student Garrett Muscatel was elected to the NH House using his dorm address.
He was also a plaintiff in the NH Democrat party/League of Women Voters lawsuit against SB3.
When Dartmouth dorms closed due to Corona, he went home to Thousand Oaks, California.
Per NH law, legislators lose qualification for office if they no longer inhabit their district.
Muscatel initially stated he was still an inhabitant of NH, but finally was forced to resign.
In 2008, Dartmouth student Vanessa Sievers of Big Sky, Montana was elected a County Treasurer.
Then she began missing County Board meetings, and couldn’t sign checks, when home on break.
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Click here to download Chadwick’s presentation.
Posted by GST Chairman Ray Chadwick