Anne Grossi | Oppose HB365

Voters are now required to show proof of citizenship when they register to vote in New Hampshire, however most voters register on election day where an indigency affidavit is not available and there is no process for looking up someone’s citizenship via databases. 79% of married women change their last name – meaning for those women, their birth certificate can not match their name and therefore is not proof of citizenship. For voters born outside of New Hampshire, the process to get proof of citizenship can be a months-long process. Even if they had financial support, the timing of having documents before election day can be the largest hurdle. Hiring a full time staff member in the Secretary of State’s office and allocating $25,000 a year for birth certificate vouchers will cost taxpayers money that could otherwise be spent improving our election systems and supporting election officials, instead of setting up a program that has no guarantee of assisting any voters with registration. The best way to ensure that no voter is turned away due to lack of documents is to bring back the affidavit process and let voters attest to their citizenship by signing a sworn statement.