This One Bill Can Transform Our Elections

Automatic, universal voter registration marks a paradigm shift in the way America runs elections. Today, senior members of Congress introduced a landmark bill that can sign up 50 million eligible citizens while boosting security and reducing error.  The initiative, led by Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) with Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),  Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), would also cut costs and improve the accuracy and security of America’s voter rolls.  Under the plan, when a citizen interacts with a government agency — for example, to get a driver’s license, apply for public services, apply for a license for a firearm, register for classes at a public university, or when becoming a naturalized citizen — she is automatically signed up to vote, unless she declines. read more about this The bill is a part of the House Democrats’ “By the People Package,” rolled out today, which strives to fix America’s broken democracy by improving voting access, reforming campaign finance laws, and fighting redistricting abuses.

Another disasterous new voting restriction

HB 1482
Relative to the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program. 
This bill authorizes the Secretary of State to enter into an agreement to share voter information and data through the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program. This program was created by Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State in Kansas. Florida and Oregon have dropped out of the program, stating that they felt the data they received was unreliable. 

In 2013, 40,000 Virginia voters were purged from the voter list just weeks before election day. This program has been used to generate hysteria about voter fraud, something that is actually quite rare. We are sorry to report that NH will be participating in this program (but not before the 2016 election).

The governor signed this measure into law on June 3.  AFSC

*November 2016 will be the first election in 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act.

There's never been a more crucial time to be discussing this unprecedented assault on voting rights. Why?

 Because in the span of 12 hours last week, courts upheld Iowa’s felon-disenfranchisement law; a voter purge in Ohio; and proof-of-citizenship laws in Kansas, Alabama, and Georgia.

Seventeen states from one side of the country to the other have new voting restrictions in place for the first time in a presidential election, from photo-ID requirements to registration restrictions and other new regulations that make it harder for average Americans to cast their vote.

While the media treats this election like a horserace, very few people truly understand the scope of the problem, and fewer are doing anything about it.

*From an email from The Nation, currently fundraising to help defray the cost of FOIA document requests and to support the people who're working to expose these problems. If you have a few spare dollars, they could use a little help.

Modernize NH's Registration

The Brennan Center has gathered some data...

Every State That Has Modernized Registration Has Saved Money:

• Modernization is a modest investment, and it will pay for itself, saving states millions of dollars a year.
• Washington spent about $280K to implement electronic voter registration at DMVs and introduce online registration. The Secretary of State’s office saved over $125K in the first year, and the counties saved even more.
• Online registration cost Arizona less than $100K, and automating DMV registrations cost only an additional $30K.
• In Maricopa County, Arizona (which includes Phoenix), processing a paper voter registration form costs 83¢, compared to an average of 3¢ for applications received electronically from the DMV or through the online system. 
• In 2008, Maricopa County saved data entry costs equivalent to the cost of eight full-time employees.
• Delaware recently improved its electronic voter registration system at DMVs, saving over $200,000 a year from its election budget.
• State election officials estimate that modernization could reduce election costs by one third.
• Canada fully recouped the cost of modernizing its system in one national election.

Help America Vote Act

HAVA mandates that all states and localities upgrade many aspects of their election procedures, including their voting machines, registration processes and poll worker training. 

The specifics of implementation have been left up to each state, which allows for varying interpretations of the federal law, and NH's spending of the funds is basically a black hole.

According to federal statistics, New Hampshire received $16.6 million in HAVA funding. Closely guarded by our increasingly peculiar Secretary of State, more than two thirds of the funds sit unused while our City and Town Clerks grapple with issues such as accessible voting tools either not available or handed over with no training. 

We need to call on the SOS to provide an accounting of the use of these funds and plans to actually improve voting in NH.


This is the entirety available on the SOS's website. 

That is it... see paragraph two... but not here, and no information where it is.

The state plan from 2003

The League of Women Voters New Hampshire understands the issue, and reminds the Election Law Committee in this testimony.