Revision: March 18, 2011, midnight
HB 274-FN – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
15Mar2011… 0544h
2011 SESSION
03/01
HOUSE BILL 274-FN
AN ACT relative to voting procedures.
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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.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:
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 ________________
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.
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.
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.
5 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
LBAO
11-0842
Revised 02/14/11
HB 274 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to voting procedures.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The New Hampshire Municipal Association states this bill may increase local expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2012 and in each fiscal year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on state and county expenditures, or state, county, and local revenues.
METHODOLOGY:
The New Hampshire Municipal Association states this bill amends RSA 654:34, V(a) to include a date field on the form which voters may change their registered political party during a primary election. The Association states it cannot estimate costs associated with form changes and therefore is unable to determine the fiscal impact on local expenditures.