The legislative dance continues in New Hampshire where the state House passed a law that would require voters to show photo ID at the polls to confirm their identity with an immediate start date to prepare for the 2012 Presidential Election. The House bill would also require voters without ID to have their picture taken and attached to an affidavit from the person swearing to their identity. The Senate would also require a photo ID but allow voters to vote with an affidavit if the voter did not bring the ID the polls. However, the bill does not appear to require that a photograph of the voter be taken and would not go into effect until 2013. Local election clerks and officials don’t believe implementation is possible for the 2012 election.
More details of the bill and the legislative maneuvering from the Concord Monitor can be found here.
Rep. Will Smith, a New Castle Republican, sponsored the changes that
passed yesterday. Smith said yesterday the subcommittee that put
together the changes believed there is voter fraud in New Hampshire that
needs serious and immediate attention.
There has long been a push
for stricter voter identification laws, but the issue came to the
forefront in January after undercover videos showed men obtaining
primary ballots using the names of deceased voters.
Prescott’s
bill, which passed the Senate 18-5 in March, required ballot clerks to
request photo identification from voters in 2012 but also let them vote
without it. If voters did not have a photo identification at the polls
the next year, they would be asked to sign an affidavit verifying their
identity.
Anyone who voted that way would receive a letter within
90 days from the secretary of state’s office asking them to return it
with written verification that the person at the address had voted. If
the letter was undeliverable or the response indicated the person didn’t
vote, the state attorney general’s office would investigate.
Under
the changes made yesterday, voters would be asked for photo
identification this year but permitted to vote without it if they signed
an affidavit verifying their identity. The moderator or a designee must
then take a photograph of the voter and attach a printout of the image
to the affidavit.
Smith estimated that it would cost about $75,000
to buy camera and printing equipment for all the state’s nearly 330
voting stations. He said his intention would be to get federal voter
enhancement money to cover the cost.