Granite State Taxpayers (GST) announces that it has filed a Right-to-Know requests on July 23, 2015 to obtain information regarding use of out-of-state driver’s licenses in order to register to vote in New Hampshire.
The New Hampshire Secretary of State has confirmed that 16,798 individuals used out-of state driver’s licenses in order to register to vote in New Hampshire in 2012 and 2014.
New Hampshire statutes allow a person to use an out of state driver’s license as proof of identity, but also require proof of domicile when registering to vote in New Hampshire. New Hampshire statutes (RSA 263:35) require that any person newly resident in New Hampshire has a maximum of 60 days to obtain a New Hampshire driver’s license.
New Hampshire statutes allow anyone to vote in New Hampshire elections even if they are unwilling or unable to provide proof of identity, citizenship or domicile in New Hampshire. Our law allows such persons to sign an affidavit that is equivalent to providing proof in the form of a birth certificate or a passport or a driver’s license.
In the 2012 election, voters filed a total of 22,177 affidavits in lieu of providing such proof. Letters were sent to each voter at the address they provided. Currently, a total of 1,177 of those letters were returned by the Post Office as “Returned Undeliverable”, indicating that no such person existed at the address provided. In the case of the largest group, 13,939 voters who signed Domicile Affidavits, 1,200 have been returned undeliverable. No data has been made available on how many others were never returned by the person who signed the affidavit.
“It is not right for a person to vote in New Hampshire to raise our taxes while not being subject to those taxes due to a primary residence and drivers license in another state” said Jim Adams, Chairman of the Granite State Taxpayers. “If bona-fide residents get their votes diluted by visitors, the result is taxation without representation, which has been recognized as an injustice since at least 1775.”