Who is qualified to vote in New Hampshire under its constitution? Part I, Bill of Rights, Article 11 defines qualified voters as inhabitants. And Part II, Article 30 defines inhabitants This is the original Part I, article 11:
All elections ought to be free, and every inhabitant of the State having the proper qualifications, has equal right to elect, and be elected into office.
This is the original Part II, article 30:
And every person qualified as the constitution provides, shall be considered an inhabitant for the purpose of electing and being elected into any office or place within this State, in that town, parish and plantation where he dwelleth and hath his home.
Simple yet in 2018 Sherman Packard sponsored HB 1264 and King Sununu signed it into law. Now NH RSA 21:6 grants residents alien the right to vote, that which the Constitution of NH does not provide. A resident is a person who resides within this State who is not a citizen of this State.
We want to thank Daniel Richard for this Op-Ed.
Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
An alien is any person legally living in NH, not a Citizen of this State (including college students). A legal resident is alien to this State if they are citizens of another State or Federal Territory.
The legislature cannot grant residency to aliens by statute and the right to vote. RSA 21:6 is colorable law as it allows residents to vote by statute with no constitutional authority to do so.
Senator Regina Birdsell, former Speaker Bill O’Brien, and the NHGOP are now offering a political solution and not a constitutional solution, by sponsoring CACR36 – out of ignorance or design?
If the Constitution defines voters as inhabitants, and you grant by statute resident aliens the right to vote, what difference will it make if you change the word inhabitant for the word US citizenship and yet still grant resident aliens the right to vote by statute?
You have achieved nothing by replacing a word for another word while continuing to ignore the constitutional definition of a qualified voter.
CACR36 would grant resident aliens the right to vote by amendment and by statute thereby allowing any American to arrive into this State and on the same day establish a residence, and therefore be allowed to vote.
How is this a solution?
More proof that we need a constitutional amendment that requires elected officials to pass a civics test before they are sworn into any office of this State.
