Bill Text: NH SB271 | 2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relative to the retention of voter affidavits and identity verification, the withdrawal of a recount request, the processing of absentee ballots, and the filing period for state representative special elections.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 2)
Status: (Passed) 2014-08-05 - V. Remainder Effective 08/01/2014 [SB271 Detail]
Download: New_Hampshire-2014-SB271-Amended.html
SB 271 – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
02/06/14 0318s
14May2014… 1561h
2014 SESSION
03/06
SENATE BILL 271
AN ACT relative to retention of voter affidavits and identity verification.
SPONSORS: Sen. Boutin, Dist 16; Rep. Fields, Belk 4
COMMITTEE: Public and Municipal Affairs
This bill:
I. Requires that all voter challenge affidavits be retained for at least 22 months after the election.
II. Allows voters the option of providing a telephone number and email address on a qualified voter affidavit, domicile affidavit, or challenged voter affidavit.
III. Modifies when identity verification letters are to be mailed.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
14-2710
03/06
02/06/14 0318s
14May2014… 1561h
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fourteen
AN ACT relative to retention of voter affidavits and identity verification.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Retention Schedule; Challenge Affidavits. Amend RSA 33-A:3-a, XXXVIII to read as follows:
XXXVIII. Elections-challenge affidavits by the town clerk:
[(a) Federal elections:] until the contest is settled and all appeals have expired or 22 months after the election, whichever is longer.
[(b) Non-federal elections: until the contest is settled and all appeals have expired or 60 days after the election, whichever is longer.]
2 Qualified Voter Affidavit. Amend RSA 654:12, I(a) to read as follows:
(a) CITIZENSHIP. The supervisors of the checklist, or the town or city clerk, shall accept from the applicant any one of the following as proof of citizenship: the applicant’s birth certificate, passport, naturalization papers if the applicant is a naturalized citizen, a qualified voter affidavit, or any other reasonable documentation which indicates the applicant is a United States citizen. The qualified voter affidavit shall be in the following form, and shall be retained in accordance with RSA 33-A:3-a:
Date: ____________________
QUALIFIED VOTER AFFIDAVIT (Identity, Citizenship, Age)
Name: ____________________
Name at birth if different: ____________________
Place of birth: ____________________
Date of birth: __________
Date and Place of Naturalization: ____________________
Domicile Address: ___________________________________
Mailing Address (if different): ___________________________________
Telephone number (requested but optional) _______________
Email address (requested but optional) ______________
I hereby swear and affirm, under the penalties for voting fraud set forth below, that I am not in possession of some or all of the documents necessary to prove my identity, citizenship, and age and that I am the identical person whom I represent myself to be, that I am a duly qualified voter of this town (or ward), that I am a United States citizen, that I am at least 18 years of age as of this date or will be at the next election, and that to the best of my knowledge and belief the information above is true and correct.
_________________________
(Signature of applicant)
In accordance with RSA 659:34, the penalty for knowingly or purposefully providing false information when registering to vote or voting is a class A misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of imprisonment not to exceed one year and a fine not to exceed $2,000. Fraudulently registering to vote or voting is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000.
On the date shown above, before me, ____________________ (print name of notary public, justice of the peace, election officer), appeared ____________________ (print name of person whose signature is being notarized), (known to me or satisfactorily proven (circle one)) to be the person whose name appears above, and he or she subscribed his or her name to the foregoing affidavit and swore that the facts contained in this affidavit are true to the best of his or her knowledge and belief.
This affidavit was executed for purposes of proving (check all that apply):
[ ] Identity
[ ] Citizenship
[ ] Age
____________________________________
Notary Public/Justice of the Peace/
Official Authorized by RSA 659:30
3 Domicile Affidavit. Amend RSA 654:12, I(c) to read as follows:
(c) DOMICILE. Any reasonable documentation which indicates that the applicant has a domicile and intends to maintain a domicile, as defined in this chapter, in the town, city, or ward in which he or she desires to vote, or, if the applicant does not have reasonable documentation in his or her possession at the place and time of voter registration, an affidavit in the following form, which shall be retained in accordance with RSA 33-A:3-a:
DOMICILE AFFIDAVIT
Date: ____________________
Name: ______________________________
Current Domicile Address: _______________________
Street Ward Number
____________________
Town or City Zip Code
Current Mailing Address (if different): __________________________________
Street Ward Number
____________________
Town or City Zip Code
Telephone number (requested but optional) _______________
Email address (requested but optional) ___________________
Date when current domicile was established: Month: _____ Year: _____
Place and date of birth: ____________________
Address of last previous domicile: ____________________
Street Ward Number
_________________________
Town or City Zip Code
I hereby swear and affirm, under the penalties for voting fraud set forth below, that I am not currently in possession of necessary documents to prove my domicile and that my established domicile is at the current domicile address I have entered above. I understand that a person can claim only one state and one city/town as his or her domicile at a time. A domicile is that place, to which upon temporary absence, a person has the intention of returning. By registering or voting today, I am acknowledging that I am not domiciled or voting in any other city/town, and that to the best of my knowledge and belief the information above is true and correct.
_________________________
(Signature of applicant)
In accordance with RSA 659:34, the penalty for knowingly or purposefully providing false information when registering to vote or voting is a class A misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of imprisonment not to exceed one year and a fine not to exceed $2,000. Fraudulently registering to vote or voting is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000.
On the date shown above, before me, ____________________ (print name of notary public, justice of the peace, election officer), appeared ____________________ (print name of person whose signature is being notarized), (known to me or satisfactorily proven (circle one)) to be the person whose name appears above, and he or she subscribed his or her name to the foregoing affidavit and swore that the facts contained in this affidavit are true to the best of his or her knowledge and belief.
_________________________
Notary Public/Justice of the Peace/Official Authorized by RSA 659:30
4 Identity Verification. Amend RSA 654:12, V(b) to read as follows:
(b) The secretary of state shall cause a letter of identity verification to be mailed by first class mail to each voter identified at any election as a first-time election day registrant in New Hampshire who also did not verify his or her identity with an approved photo identification. The letter shall be mailed by January 10 in every odd-numbered year in the case of persons registering at a state primary or general election, or within [60] 90 days after [the] any other election[, except that if the election is a state primary election, the letter shall be mailed 60 days after the general election, and if the election is a regularly scheduled municipal election, the letter shall be mailed by the July 1 or January 1 next following the election]. The secretary of state shall mark the envelope with instructions to the United States Post Office not to forward the letter and to provide address correction information. The letter shall notify the person that a person who was unable to present photo identification registered or registered and voted using his or her name and address and instruct the person to return the letter within 45 days with a written confirmation that the person registered and voted or to contact the attorney general immediately if he or she did not register and vote. Any voter under a protective order pursuant to RSA 173-B, and whose name does not appear on the checklist as provided under RSA 654:25, shall not be subject to the provisions of paragraph V.
5 Identity Verification. Amend RSA 659:13, IV(a) to read as follows:
IV.(a) The secretary of state shall cause a letter of identity verification to be mailed by first class mail to each voter who executed a challenged voter affidavit in accordance with paragraph I. The letter shall be mailed by January 10 in every odd-numbered year in the case of persons executing challenged voter affidavits at a state primary or general election, or within [60] 90 days after [the] any other election[, except that if the election is a state primary election, the letter shall be mailed 60 days after the general election, and if the election is a regularly scheduled municipal election, the letter shall be mailed by the July 1 or January 1 next following the election]. The secretary of state shall mark the envelope with instructions to the United States Post Office not to forward the letter and to provide address correction information. The letter shall notify the person that a person who did not present valid photo identification voted using his or her name and address and instruct the person to return the letter within 90 days with a written confirmation that the person voted or to contact the attorney general immediately if he or she did not vote. The letter shall also inform the person of the procedure for obtaining a free nondriver’s picture identification card for voting purposes.
6 Identity Verification; Prospective Version. Amend RSA 659:13, IV(a) to read as follows:
IV.(a) The secretary of state shall cause a letter of identity verification to be mailed by first class mail to each voter who executed a challenged voter affidavit or affidavit of religious exemption in accordance with paragraph I, unless the same person is sent letter of identity verification pursuant to RSA 654:12, V(b). The letter shall be mailed by January 10 in every odd-numbered year in the case of persons executing challenged voter affidavits or affidavits of religious exemption at a state primary or general election, or within [60] 90 days after [the] any other election[, except that if the election is a state primary election, the letter shall be mailed 60 days after the general election, and if the election is a regularly scheduled municipal election, the letter shall be mailed by the July 1 or January 1 next following the election]. The secretary of state shall mark the envelope with instructions to the United States Post Office not to forward the letter and to provide address correction information. The letter shall notify the person that a person who did not present valid photo identification voted using his or her name and address and instruct the person to return the letter within 30 days with a written confirmation that the person voted or to contact the attorney general immediately if he or she did not vote. The letter shall also inform the person of the procedure for obtaining a free nondriver’s picture identification card for voting purposes.
7 Challenged Voter Affidavit. Amend RSA 659:27, II to read as follows:
II. Upon receipt of a written challenge, the moderator shall determine if the challenge to the ballot is well grounded. If the moderator determines that the challenge is well grounded, the moderator shall not receive the vote of the person so challenged until the person signs and gives to the moderator an affidavit in the following form: I, ______________________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) under penalties of voter fraud, that I am the identical person whom I represent myself to be, that I am a duly qualified voter of this town (or ward), and have a legal domicile therein. My telephone number (requested but optional) is _______________, and my email address (requested but optional) is ______________. If the moderator determines that the challenge is not well grounded, the moderator shall permit the voter to proceed to vote.
8 Effective Date.
I. Section 6 of this act shall take effect September 1, 2015, at 12:02 a.m.
II. The remainder of this act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
