Gov. Chris Sununu signed a law Thursday that will require all first-time New Hampshire voters to show a passport, birth certificate or naturalization papers — a major change to election law policy that is likely to invite a court challenge from voting rights groups.
The new law won’t go into effect until after the November general election. Once it takes effect, all first-time registrants will need to show proof of their citizenship and residency. Under the existing rules, would-be voters can sign a legally binding form known as an affidavit, swearing to their eligibility to vote.
“We have a proud tradition and proven track record of conducting elections that are trusted and true," Sununu said in a press release announcing his signature of the bill. “Looking forward to the next decade or two, this legislation will instill even more integrity and trust in the voting process.”
There is no evidence that the affidavit system has been subverted to allow people who live outside of New Hampshire, or who aren’t qualified to vote, to participate in elections. Most local prosecutions for voter fraud involve people with second homes or those who move between towns in New Hampshire.
For months, Sununu repeatedly told reporters he had concerns about the legislation, which was sponsored by Republican Rep. Bob Lynn, the former chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Sununu said he was not looking to make any major changes to state election laws and expressed concerns about the bill’s tight timeline: It goes into effect 60 days after his signature. That would have meant the law could have impacted either the state primary elections or the November general elections.
But after the bill cleared the Legislature in June, Republican leadership in the New Hampshire Senate essentially slow-walked the bill’s arrival on the governor’s desk. Sununu received the legislation earlier this week.
The bill’s signing date on Thursday ensures it won’t go into effect until after the upcoming elections.
Some voting rights groups say the new law creates one of the strictest voter registration processes in the country and amounts to a voter suppression effort.
“This extreme legislation signed by the governor will roll back voting access for all eligible Granite Staters,” said McKenzie Taylor, with the New Hampshire Campaign for Voting Rights. “Once this law goes into effect later this year, any voter may be turned away from the polls if they did not have the correct documents, creating massive new changes to New Hampshire’s registration system, burdening our election officials, and disenfranchising eligible voters.”
During testimony at the State House earlier this year, the law’s opponents argued that many people lack access to their birth certificate or a passport, meaning that they face additional expenses in acquiring those documents in order to register to vote.
Republican lawmakers said the measure was a reasonable expansion of voter identification policies, and that having proof in hand of someone’s qualifications is legally justified.
