A MAJORITY OF GRANITE STATERS SUPPORT A 30 DAY RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT FOR VOTERS
A majority of New Hampshire residents approve of a bill to establish a 30 day residency requirement in order to vote in a state election, as is currently the law in 27 other States.
That finding was from the WMUR Granite State Poll done by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center where five hundred and thirty-two (532) randomly selected New Hampshire adults were interviewed between July 7 and July 20, 2015. The Poll report, released on July 21, 2015, covered a variety of other topics as well.
Click here to read the WMUR Granite State Poll.
The following summary regarding the 30 Day Residency Requirement appears on Page 5 of the report:
Support/Oppose 30 Day Residency Law?
One contentious issue in Concord was a bill passed by the legislature that would require a person to live in New Hampshire for 30 days before being allowed to register to vote. Governor Hassan recently vetoed this bill. However, a majority (57%) of Granite Staters support this law (42% strongly and 15% somewhat), 28% oppose it (20% strongly and 8% somewhat), and 14% are neutral or don’t know enough to say. Republicans (74% support, 13% oppose) and Independents (58% support, 30% oppose) support the legislation, while Democrats (41% support, 42% oppose) are divided.
The Poll report, on Page 26, presents data on different demographic groups.
Democrats, Boston Globe readers and NHPR listeners were opposed by single digit margins, Liberals by 13%.
All other groups (by Party, by age, by gender, by education level, by union affiliation or not, by media read or listened to) had majorities for the bill with support margins from 13% to 74%, depending on the demographic.
Click here to see the Demographic Data (Page 26) from the WMUR Granite State Poll.
Currently, 47 states and the District of Columbia require a citizen to be either a resident, or to be registered to vote, or both, for a period of time before voting. Voter residency or registration requirements of 20 days or more are in place in 40 states, and 27 of those require 30 days.
Click here for Requirements by State
A 30 day voter residency requirement is a common sense law in 27 states. Why not in New Hampshire?