SOURCE: Fosters.com

Straight-ticket voting may soon be over in N.H.

ROCHESTER — Straight-ticket voting is nearing death in New Hampshire following a legislative committee's action Wednesday.

The Senate Election Law Committee voted 4-1 to recommend the full Senate end the practice, one that goes back to the days when illiterate voters needed symbols to pick candidates.

In pushing the legislation, SB36, backers said confusion over straight-ticking voting will cease.

Straight-ticket voting enables voters to mark Democrat or Republican boxes at the top of ballots as a way to show they are supporting a party's entire slate of candidates.

Confusion has occurred when voters mark the party box but then also select individual candidates. This confuses voting machines and poll workers overseeing recounts.

Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said if a voter marks the Democratic straight-ticket box, for instance, but votes for a Republican governor, the voting system will later count the vote for the Republican governor, but keep the straight-party Democratic vote for all other positions.

In the 2006 election, more than 33 percent of the ballots cast were straight ticket. Despite the practice finally playing to their advantage when they won big last year, Democrats said terminating the method is the right thing to do.

"There's no better time than now for putting our money where our mouth is," Sen. Jackie Cilley, D-Barrington, said. "If we said we believe in this on November 5, then we should believe in this on November 7."

She added, "We are beyond the point where we need to be checking the elephant or the donkey."

Sen. Robert Letourneau, R-Derry, voted against the measure because he said it limits choice for the 20 to 30 percent of voters who use straight tickets, especially people in larger communities.

"You will always have some confusion with ballots but the amount of confusion is minute in comparison to the people who I think utilize this option," Letourneau said.

Joining Cilley in approval were two Democrats, Betsi DeVries of Manchester and Peter Burling of Cornish, and one Republican, John Gallus of Berlin.

Sen. Jack Barnes, R-Raymond, testified before the committee. He said he has wanted to get rid of the option for years and thinks "my colleagues have finally seen the light."

He added, "The citizens in the state are smart enough to know who to vote for and don't need to check a box at the top of the ballot."

Also testifying in support of the bill was the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, advocates for open elections and Sens. Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, and Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth.

In a statement supporting the move, Senate President Sylvia Larsen, D-Concord, said many voters "wrongly assume that by marking a circle for the straight-ticket ballot they are simply indicating their party affiliation."

The measure now will go to the full Senate and then the House, where some say passage is certain.

Rep. Jane Clemons, D-Nashua, chair of the House Election Law Committee, is cosponsoring the bill with Burling in the Senate. She has sponsored the bill four or five times but it always failed, she said, because Republicans in the majority viewed it as an advantage.

"I'll be surprised if it doesn't pass the House. It's got support on both sides of the aisle, so it should pass," said Clemons.

Gov. John Lynch "supports the elimination of straight-ticket voting," said his spokesman Colin Manning.

In Rochester, where 34 percent of voters cast ballots strictly along party lines in 2006, City Clerk Joe Gray said voters know how to use straight tickets, evidenced by Rep. Julie Brown being the only Republican to win among a majority of Democrats.

"I know when people lose they don't like straight-ticket votes. When they win, of course they like it," he said, adding, "I recommend to people not to do straight-ticket voting. If you want to make sure the people you are voting for gets elected you should vote for them."