House Bill 1264, which became effective in July, made the act of voting in New Hampshire a declaration of residency in New Hampshire, triggering all the responsibilities that come with being a resident of New Hampshire.
The New Hampshire Attorney General, however, seems intent on undermining House Bill 1264. The “Election Law Unit” issued advice to the Secretary of State’s Office a few days ago, which contains this gem:
Give me a break. The law is now “black-and-white.” There is no “legal guidance” needed. You vote in New Hampshire, you have declared yourself a resident of New Hampshire, and as a resident you are required to get a New Hampshire driver’s license. Period. And local election officials should be saying so.
Our neighbor to the North, Maine, has no problem informing voters that the act of registering to vote constitutes a declaration of residency:
Consequences of Declaring Your Voting Residence (by Registering to Vote) in Maine
… if you register to vote in Maine, you will be deemed to have declared residency in Maine, which may require compliance with other Maine laws, including the motor vehicle laws and tax laws. If you drive a car in Maine, you are required to obtain a Maine driver’s license within thirty days of establishing residency here. … By declaring Maine as your voting residence, you may also be treated as a resident of Maine for income tax purposes and be subject to Maine income tax. …
http://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/voter-info/resident.html.
Massachusetts and Vermont, hardly bastions of conservatism, explicitly tells prospective voters that if they are not residents, don’t vote:
There is no reason prospective voters in New Hampshire should not be receiving similar information.
Worse, the advice to the Secretary of State contains an addendum, which appears designed to create confusion where there is none:
There is no “may be equivalent” or “may be within the definition of ‘resident’.” If you vote in a New Hampshire election, you have declared residency in New Hampshire. Period.
The Attorney General appears to be trying to create an enormous loophole in the Voter-Residency requirement. The only way I can make sense of this “may be” language is that it is intended to tacitly suggest that nonresident college students may vote in New Hampshire and then re-register in their home States to negate their having declared residency in New Hampshire.
Given that our wonderful Attorney General issued this “advice,” it is up to Governor Sununu whether New Hampshire will have clean elections or whether New Hampshire will continue to be the poster-child for Voter-Fraud. Sununu MUST direct the Attorney General to retract this “advice”, and to provide language comparable to the Maine language for local election officials to provide to new voters.
