Why Is Governor Sununu Not Enforcing the Voter-Residency-Rule?

So HB 1264 (the voter-residency-rule) finally went into effect on July 1st. In 2018, the then GOP Senate delayed HB 1264’s effective-date until after the 2018 election, which likely led to the Democrats taking control of all of State government except the Governor’s office. This was such a boneheaded move that I conjectured that the New Hampshire Department of Justice must have snookered Regina Birdsell.

But now that HB 1264 has finally gone into effect it’s all good, right? We will no longer have to worry about legions of non-resident college students and non-resident campaign workers and volunteers voting in our elections because voting in New Hampshire is now a declaration of residency in New Hampshire, subjecting the voter to all the responsibilities -for example, getting a New Hampshire driver’s license- of a resident.

Apparently not. Apparently Governor Sununu is NOT planning to enforce HB 1264. The Concord Monitor broke the -for the Left- good news on July 15th:

When the Monitor asked about how the law will be enforced to the Secretary of State’s office – which oversees elections – and the Division of Motor Vehicles, which issues driver’s licenses and oversees vehicle registration, each agency deferred to the other.

In terms of election law, “nothing has changed,” said Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan, who said that out-of-state college students can still vote in New Hampshire as they have in previous years – no New Hampshire ID or car registration is required when they go to the polls.

“In terms of elections they do not have to do anything else,” Scanlan wrote in an email. “Under motor vehicle law a person has a certain period of time after becoming a resident within which to obtain a driver’s license if they are going to drive a vehicle or register a car if they own one. Failure to follow a motor vehicle law, however, does not affect a person’s right to vote.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Safety said the new law has no effect on the DMV.

“The implementation of HB 1264 does not change the procedure for an individual to register a vehicle or obtain a driver’s license. Please direct questions regarding voter registrations to the Secretary of State’s Office,” wrote Michael Todd, spokesman for Department of Safety and the DMV. …

… It does not appear there is any collaboration between the Secretary of State’s office and the Department of Safety to enforce this change in the law. Information on newly declared residents who registered to vote would need to be passed on to state and local police responsible for enforcing motor vehicle laws.

NHPR’s Casey McDimwit is also spreading the good news about HB 1264: NOTHING HAS CHANGED.