CONCORD, N.H. — A voter in Milford, N.H., missed out on approving the city’s $19 million working finances, electing a cemetery trustee and shopping for a brand new dump truck. In Durham, an 18-year-old highschool pupil didn’t get a say in who ought to serve on the varsity board or whether or not $125,000 ought to go towards changing synthetic turf on athletic fields.
Neither was capable of take part in latest city elections in New Hampshire due to a brand new state legislation requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. Their experiences, recounted by city clerks, might show instructive for the remainder of the nation because the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act advances in Congress and greater than a dozen states think about comparable laws.
“Everything that conservatives tried to downplay, New Hampshire told us exactly what would happen on a national scale under the SAVE Act,” mentioned Greta Bedekovics, a former coverage adviser for Senate Democrats who’s now with the Heart for American Progress.
Maiden names a difficulty
Voting rights teams are significantly involved that married girls who’ve modified their names will encounter hassle when making an attempt to register as a result of their start certificates listing their maiden names.
That’s precisely what occurred to Brooke Yonge, a 45-year-old hairstylist who confirmed up at her polling place in Derry final week decided to point out her assist for public training.
She was turned away initially as a result of she didn’t have proof of citizenship. When she returned together with her start certificates, that also was not sufficient as a result of the identify on the doc didn’t match the one on her driver’s license. She went again house to fetch her marriage license to show she had modified her identify.
“Third trip around the sun, and here we are,” mentioned Yonge, who known as the registration necessities cheap regardless of the effort. “If I did a little research, I probably would have known that is what I needed.”
New Hampshire is among the many 20 states that enable voters to register on the day of an election. In keeping with the New Hampshire Marketing campaign for Voting Rights, not less than 56 individuals who tried to register statewide the day of the March 11 city elections had been turned away, although it’s unknown what number of of them later accomplished the method.
Derry’s city clerk, Tina Guilford, wonders the way it will go throughout a November basic election, when turnout is way larger.
“It’s just heartbreaking to me to see people turn around and think, ‘I hope they come back,’” she mentioned.
At the least one one that tried to register in Milford on Tuesday didn’t return, mentioned Joan Dargie, the city clerk. Neither did an older girl who tried to register at City Corridor earlier than the election. The primary of the girl’s three marriages was in Florida within the Nineteen Seventies, and that license was lengthy gone, Dargie mentioned.
“Sometimes people are like, ‘I didn’t save any paperwork for that. I wanted to forget all that,’” Dargie mentioned. “It’s disenfranchising women.”
On the nationwide stage
The U.S. Home handed laws final 12 months to require proof of citizenship for voter registration, nevertheless it stalled within the Senate amid Democratic opposition. With Republicans now in full management of Congress, the Home is predicted to take up the difficulty once more quickly.
Earlier than the 2024 election, Donald Trump falsely claimed that noncitizens may vote in giant sufficient numbers to sway the result. Actually, analysis and opinions of state instances have proven voting by noncitizens to be uncommon and usually a mistake moderately than an intentional effort to subvert an election.
Republicans argue that even small numbers of noncitizens voting undermines public confidence.
