The twisted logic of the Democrat’s voter laws - Granite Grok

The twisted logic of the Democrat’s voter laws

Kevin Avard

THE OTHER DAY I read an op-ed in the newspaper written by Sen. Melanie Levesque in which she advocated for automatic voter registration when someone obtains a New Hampshire driver’s license.

Does this mean that Sen. Levesque suddenly believes that voters should vote in the state where we hold a driver license? This would represent a huge change for New Hampshire Democrats. After all, hasn’t Sen. Levesque adamantly opposed New Hampshire’s Voter Integrity Law (which I voted for in 2017) that simply requires voters to be New Hampshire residents if they want to vote here?

Senator Levesque has argued for years that someone does not need to be a resident of New Hampshire in order to vote here, but rather that they just need to be “domiciled” in our state for any amount of time before the election. In fact, Democrats have argued that asking potential voters to obtain a New Hampshire driver’s license was too burdensome and disenfranchised their vote by not letting them choose which state they want to vote in. Have the Democrats changed their opinion? If we automatically register our driver’s license holders to vote, shouldn’t our neighboring states like Massachusetts and Vermont do the same? Wouldn’t that mean that all of those “domiciled” voters should vote in the state in which they hold a driver’s license?

It appears that Melanie Levesque believes that If someone holds a New Hampshire driver’s license and lives in another state, that they should vote in New Hampshire. However if someone holds an out-of-state driver’s license and lives in New Hampshire, they should still vote in New Hampshire.

The pretzel that Democrats must twist their brains into in order to come to this twisted logic is truly amazing, but I think we all know the truth of the situation. Democrats know that our surrounding neighbors are deep blue states where Democrats can afford to lose a few voters without jeopardizing their stranglehold on the political landscape. They also know that many people spend time in our state at vacation homes or as students and that most of these “domiciled” voters are Democrats. Thus, by allowing “domiciled” Democrats from our neighboring states to vote in New Hampshire, they may tip the scales in their favor.

I don’t think that this is right and each one of those votes is cancelling out the vote of someone that actually lives here and benefits or suffers from our elected officials’ decisions. So who is really being disenfranchised?

Sen. Levesque and I agree that voting is a fundamental right and one that everyone should participate in. I don’t want to see any voters disenfranchised and I agree that we should make it as easy as possible to cast your vote and elect people that will represent your hometown. However, I simply believe that voters should vote where they live.
Seems pretty logical to me.

Kevin Avard lives in Nashua and is a former two-term state senator. He’s a 2020 candidate for the District 12 state Senate seat.

>