What is the most important qualification for voting in the State of New Hampshire? This puzzle has “confused” people for decades. One qualification is being 18 years of age – but then again – lots of people are 18 years of age.
So, there must be something else that would set a group of people above the age of 18 apart from all others when it comes to voting in our state.
Let’s check the first two most important sentences in Part 1 Article 11 of our State Constitution when it comes to voting:
[Art.] 11. [Elections and Elective Franchises.] All elections are to be free, and every inhabitant of the state of 18 years of age and upwards shall have an equal right to vote in any election. Every person shall be considered an inhabitant for the purposes of voting in the town, ward, or unincorporated place where he has his domicile.
I have attached a copy of a MEMORANDUM the NH AG’s Office released in 2002 about their investigation of out-of-state tuition paying UNH college students voting illegally in 2000.
These students were organized. They had an intent. That intent was to vote in New Hampshire. They signed a voter registration form which included a perjury clause where they declared NH as their domicile. Every student, out-of-state or not, knows the difference between domicile and residence (more on that in a later article) or else they would not be in a State college.
After signing the voter registration form – they voted. That amounts to two actions, not one. One action was signing the voter registration form, at which point a non-resident student could change their mind. The next action was to vote. That vote counts and cannot be taken back.
The UNH students in 2000 were organized by campaign workers and others who knew the requirements to be qualified to vote in NH. These naive students were misled and used by those campaign workers.
But the investigators of this incident, Anne Edwards and Bud Fitch of the Election Division of the NH AG’s Office, did not investigate who misled the students.
These two investigators also chose not to use the legal, constitutional standard for voting in NH – having a domicile. Having a domicile means you have abandoned your previous domicile. If you are paying out-of-state tuition in NH or have a valid out-of-state driver’s license – you have not abandoned your previous domicile.
Anne Edwards and Bud Fitch use a different standard for voting in New Hampshire. They propose that if you have “established a presence” in our state, you have met the qualifications.
Their legal gibberish is part of how New Hampshire has accumulated 5,313 known, illegal, non-resident voters who are on our Statewide Database today. This number is the result of a 2017 match of registered voters who used an out-of-state license to vote on November 8, 2016, and people holding a NH driver’s license ten months later. The 5,313 number is a low estimate of how many out-of-state voters are still on our voter checklists statewide.
Until our state election officials have a new understanding of the law regarding voting in New Hampshire – one that follows the recent OPINION of the JUDGES, we will keep having non-citizens watering down the votes of lawful NH voters.
The NH State Supreme Court had it right. It is a violation of the US Constitution for non-citizens to vote in NH as much as it is for our state to allow it.
If you want to vote in New Hampshire, establish a domicile.
No out-of-state voter or non-resident college student has, or ever will be, disenfranchised by not being allowed to vote illegally in our state.
fitch memo NH AG
