We all know that before HB1264 and SB3, 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.
NH laws also allowed residents of other states to be run for, and be elected to, 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 League of Women Voters lawsuit filed 8/23/17 against SB3.
The complaint states that Muscatel was domiciled in Hanover, New Hampshire.
The complaint also states that he “currently temporarily” resides in Thousand Oaks, California.
(The NH Democrat party had also filed suit against SB3 on 8/22/17.)
When Dartmouth dorms closed due to Corona, he went home to Thousand Oaks, California.
Then Stanford University announced Muscatel, from Thousand Oaks, CA, had been accepted there.
The NH Republican Party stated that, with no NH address, Muscatel couldn’t remain in the House.
State law says legislators remain qualified to hold office only if they remain an inhabitant of their district.
Per NH law, legislators lose their 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 was elected as Grafton County Treasurer.
The part-time Treasurer manages funds and investments and makes payments ordered by commissioners.
Sievers, a resident of of Big Sky, Montana, was elected to the the $6,480 job by 600 votes out of 42,000 cast.
After losing, the former Treasurer stated “It was the brainwashed college kids that made the difference.”
Sievers began missing County Board meetings, and couldn’t sign checks, when home on break.
After non-binding votes for her resignation, Sievers got family members to agree to visit her during school breaks so she could avoid returning home four times a year, which she said “will help out a lot.”
NH laws enabled residents of other states BOTH to vote here and hold office here.
That’s what we’ve been fighting to fix through our efforts in 2017 to pass and thereafter to sustain:
SB3 (requiring proof of residence when registering) and HB1264 (requiring voters to be residents).
Posted by GST Chairman Ray Chadwick