(Edited for clarification Nov. 5) Election day registration, or same day registration, means that anyone can register on election day and cast their ballot that same day. This lawful tradition supports the New Hampshire way, as expressed by so many of our good and honest public servants, such as Assistant Attorney General Jim Kennedy, who stated to me, "In New Hampshire, we always err on the side of allowing people to vote."

Recently passed legislation puts a new twist on our cherished NH election day registration. The law, embedded in RSA 654:12, III Determining Qualifications of Applicant; Identity; Verification, states that when someone registers in New Hampshire for the first time on election day, they must show an approved photo identification, along with some document that verifies their domicile. This could be an electric bill or another form of mail that has been sent to their address of domicile.

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Speaking with the Concord city clerk yesterday, I was struck by her statement that "we do everything we can to make sure that people can vote in New Hampshire." This is true. NH is an exemplar state when it comes to voting rights.

And if you have any questions about voting in NH, you can have those easily answered. Not sure how to register? Wondering what it means to be domiciled in New Hampshire for purposes of voting? Not sure what documents you need to prove citizenship or domicile?

View the videos provided by the office of our NH Secretary of State. They can be found here.

N.H. Leads Revolt Against Federal ID Rules

By KATHARINE WEBSTER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 25, 2006; 7:46 PM

CONCORD, N.H. -- New Hampshire has suddenly become a battleground in the fight over privacy rights versus homeland security, with state legislators voting against strict new federal standards for issuing driver's licenses.

At issue is the federal Real ID Act, which is intended to keep terrorists from getting fake IDs. It requires states by 2008 to verify documents such as birth certificates, Social Security cards and passports when people apply for driver's licenses. State databases with driver information and photos will also be linked.

Last month, the Republican-controlled New Hampshire House voted overwhelmingly to bar the state from participating in the program. A vote in the GOP-dominated Senate is expected in two weeks. Democratic Gov. John Lynch remains undecided.

The move has won backing from the American Civil Liberties Union as well as conservative privacy advocates and Christian fundamentalists.

Boston Globe reports, April 26, 2006, Concord, N.H.

Debate on tougher ID standards heats up

New Hampshire has suddenly become a battleground in the fight over privacy rights versus homeland security, with state legislators voting against strict new federal standards for issuing driver's licenses. At issue is the federal Real ID Act, which is intended to keep terrorists from getting fake identification. It requires states by 2008 to verify documents such as birth certificates, Social Security cards, and passports when people get driver's licenses. State databases with driver information and photos will also be linked.

Good news, it looks like HB 154 is going to get an ITL from the Senate Internal Affairs Committee.

Granted, it wasn't voted on, but pretty much everybody there could see that it wasn't going to pass.

Only one person spoke in favor of the bill, Representative William O'Brien(R-Mont Vernon), and he was roundly questioned and critized from both Republicans and Democrats on the Committee.

The following 8 or so people who testified, including Senator Martha Fuller Clark (D-Portsmouth) and NH ACLU head Claire Abel, got little to no questions or comments back from the committee for the most part.

I have been looking at the numbers from the polls in the counties in Florida, specifically Alachua County because that's a place, after living there for seventeen years and being politically active, I know something about.

The site where you can see the data yourself is http://ustogether.org/Florida_Election.htm.

The data she presents is for 2004 for all the counties in Florida, devided according to the kinds of tabulating machines they use. Like New Hampshire, Alachua County uses optical scanners from Diebold. If you look at the numbers across the line, you will see that the Democrat won. If you go further down the page and call up the numbers for 2000, you'll see that the Democrat won in 2000 as well. Alachua County has long been a Democratic sea in a conservative part of the state.

From 2000 to 2004 registration in Alachua County increased quite significantly. Republicans added about 7000, Democrats added about 10,500 and Independents increased their numbers by about 8000. About 75% of registeredvoters went to the polls in 2000. This year that increased to 78%. If we assume that 22% of each group stay at home on election day, then you get the number in the “expected vote” column. If you assume that every single person registered as a Republican went to vote, both this time and last, then the actual number of Republican votes was 2000 and 8000 more than the number of registered voters in 2000 and in 2004. In other words, we have to believe that 6000 more non-Republicans voted for Bush this time than voted for him last time.

Kerry is bringing his version of Rock the Vote to UNH on Monday. I was wondering if you might want to set up a voter registration table? My nephew goes there, and I am giving him the new universal forms I got from Rock the Vote, which he can mail back to them for free. If I can get him in touch with
someone from Democracy for NH, perhaps he could drop off the forms and you can do the registering? In NH, these forms are considered applications for absenteeballots as well as voter registration forms. You may want to check out the NH Secretary of State's page, as I did. There are certain ramifications of registering to vote in the town you go to college, but not if you register in your home town and then request an absentee ballot.

www.johnkerry.com has the information about UNH visit on Monday.

Let me know if you are interested in doing this.
thanks,

loisinVermont
Democracy for Vermont
www.democracyforvermont.com
Lois@democracyforvermont.com
(877) 623-9265