HB274 (2011) Detail

Relative to voting procedures.


CHAPTER 73

HB 274-FN – FINAL VERSION

15Mar2011… 0544h

2011 SESSION

11-0842

03/01

HOUSE BILL 274-FN

AN ACT relative to voting procedures.

SPONSORS: Rep. Fields, Belk 2

COMMITTEE: Election Law

ANALYSIS

This bill makes various technical changes relating to voting procedures.

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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

15Mar2011… 0544h

11-0842

03/01

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eleven

AN ACT relative to voting procedures.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

73:1 Change of Registration. Amend RSA 654:34, V(a) to read as follows:

V.(a) At any primary, the supervisors of the checklist shall make available within the polling place a card to enable a voter who was registered as an undeclared voter but who changed registration on the day of the primary in order to vote as a registered member of a party to change registration so that the voter is registered once again as an undeclared voter. The card shall be in substantially the following form:

Name ____________________

(Print)

Address ____________________

____________________________

____________________________

I hereby request that my political party registration be changed as follows:

From: Democrat [] or Republican []

To: Undeclared []

Signed under the pains and penalties of perjury.

____________________

Date ________________

73:2 Absentee Voting; Addresses and Polling Hours Maintained by Clerk. Amend RSA 657:19-c to read as follows:

657:19-c [E-Mail Account] Addresses and Polling Hours Maintained by Clerks. [As required by federal law, to satisfy their obligation to send and receive voting materials electronically,] Each town and city clerk shall establish and maintain an official e-mail [account and] address and street address, which shall be publically available to voters. Clerks shall maintain up-to-date polling place locations for each election, including street addresses, and polling hours, and clerks shall keep such information in the statewide centralized voter registration database.

73:3 Who Can Vote. Amend RSA 659:12 to read as follows:

659:12 Who Can Vote. All persons whose names are entered upon the corrected checklist brought by the town or ward clerk to the polling place shall be entitled to vote [unless successfully challenged]. No person whose name is not upon the checklist shall be allowed to vote, unless, in the opinion of the supervisors of the checklist, it clearly appears that the name of a qualified voter has been omitted from the checklist by clerical error or mistake or that the person is a serviceman on leave who is qualified to vote and who by reason of such service was not in the town or city of his or her legal domicile at the time of the last session of the supervisors of the checklist.

73:4 Affidavit. Amend RSA 659:30 to read as follows:

659:30 Affidavit. The affidavit of a challenged voter, an asserting a challenge form, a qualified voter affidavit, a voter domicile affidavit, or any other affidavit required by the election statutes may be sworn before any person authorized by law to administer oaths or before any election officer.

73:5 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

Approved: May 16, 2011

Effective Date: July 15, 2011