HB 250 – AS INTRODUCED
2005 SESSION
03/09
HOUSE BILL 250
AN ACT permitting certain election day workers to vote by absentee ballot.
SPONSORS: Rep. Vaillancourt, Hills 15
This bill permits persons, working on election day at a polling place outside the town or ward where they are registered to vote, to vote by absentee ballot.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
05-0366
03/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Five
AN ACT permitting certain election day workers to vote by absentee ballot.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Absence, Religious Observance, and Disability Absentee Voting. Amend RSA 657:1 to read as follows:
657:1 Absence, Religious Observance, and Disability Absentee Voting. Any person who is absent on the day of any state election from the city, town, or unincorporated place in which he or she is registered to vote or who cannot appear in public on any election day because of his or her observance of a religious commitment or who is unable to vote there in person by reason of physical disability may vote at such elections as provided in this chapter. A person who is working on election day at a polling place outside the town or ward where he or she is registered to vote shall be considered absent for purposes of this chapter.
2 Absentee Voter Affidavit; Absence from City or Town. Amend RSA 657:7, II(a) to read as follows:
(a) Absence from City or Town. A person voting by absentee ballot because of absence from the city or town in which he or she is entitled to vote shall fill out and sign the following certificate:
I do hereby certify under the penalties for voting fraud set forth below that I am a voter in the city or town of ____________, New Hampshire, in ward __________; that I will be working on election day at a polling place outside the town or ward where I am registered to vote or will be otherwise absent on election day from said city or town and will be unable to vote in person; that I have carefully read (or had read to me because I am blind) the instructions forwarded to me with the ballot herein enclosed, and that I personally marked the ballot within and sealed it in this envelope (or had assistance in marking the ballot and sealing it in this envelope because I am blind).
(Signature) ____________________
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.
3 Town Elections; Absentee Voting. Amend RSA 669:26 to read as follows:
669:26 Absentee Voting. Every town which has adopted an official ballot system for town elections as provided in RSA 669:12 or 669:13 shall provide for absentee voting. Any registered voter or armed services voter who is absent from such a town on the day of a town election, or who cannot appear in public on election day because of his observance of a religious commitment, or who, by reason of physical disability, is unable to vote in person may vote at a town election in accordance with the provisions of this section and RSA 669:27-669:29. A person who is working on election day at a polling place outside the town or ward where he or she is registered to vote shall be considered absent for purposes of this section and RSA 669:27-669:29.
4 Absentee Voter Affidavit. Amend RSA 669:27, III to read as follows:
III. Envelopes of sufficient size to contain the ballots specified in paragraph I, on which shall be printed the following affidavit:
Absence. A person voting by absentee ballot because of absence from the place in which he or she is entitled to vote shall fill out and sign the following certificate:
I do hereby certify, under the penalties for voting fraud set forth below, that I am a voter in the town (city, village district, school district) of __________, New Hampshire, that I will be working on election day at a polling place outside the town or ward where I am registered to vote or will be otherwise absent on election day from said town (city, village district, school district) and will be unable to vote in person; that I have carefully read the instructions forwarded to me with the ballot herein enclosed, and that I personally marked the within ballot and enclosed and sealed it in this envelope.
(Signature) ____________________
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.
Absence Because of Religious Observance or Physical Disability. A person voting by absentee ballot because of religious observance or physical disability shall fill out and sign the following certificate:
I do hereby certify, under the penalties for voting fraud set forth below, that I am a voter in the town (city, village district, school district) of __________, New Hampshire, that I will be observing a religious commitment which prevents me from voting in person, or that on account of physical disability I am unable to vote in person; that I have carefully read the instructions forwarded to me with the ballot herein enclosed, and that I personally marked the within ballot and sealed it in this envelope.
(Signature) ____________________
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.
5 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.