NH RSA 91-A:4 governs the public disclosure and inspection of governmental records. The statute requires that records must be available for inspection and copying during the regular business hours of the public body or agency – unless a record is temporarily unavailable because it’s actually being used.
Related: Another Citizen Activist Arrested At Nashua City Hall
Nashua City Hall is closed, thanks to Sununu’s Long Emergency. Our access to public records in Nashua has been severely restricted. Citizens are only allowed into City Hall by appointment. Even still, you risk being arrested, as occurred to one Nashua resident last Friday and to another Nashua resident less than a month earlier.
The Nashua City Clerk just gave me an appointment for April 7th, which is two weeks out, to view the same November 3, 2020 election tabulator slips for Wards 1-9.
Why do I need this appointment for the same records that the City Clerk already provided under a Right to Request request from the Nashua resident who was arrested last Friday?
Look at the pictures below. See for yourself. These are just two of the problems with the copies made available by the City Clerk’s office.
#1. This is a Nashua tabulator machine slip that has been cut. The text above the cut is dark. The text below the cut is light. How did that happen? What’s missing?
#2. This Nashua tabulator machine slip has no signatures. It’s not an official document without signatures.
What’s going on in Nashua? No one knows. It took one week (and an arrest) to get this information. Now it will take two more weeks to be allowed to review the physical documents.
Under state law, which Sununu’s Long Emergency has apparently suspended, a citizen is allowed to get this information by simply walking into their Town or City Hall and politely asking to review the public records. Sadly, this is no longer allowed in Nashua.
If you try to sue the City, the City Attorney will just delay and delay court hearings. That’s his track record. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Please help us end this injustice.
Ask your legislators to pass House Concurrent Resolution 2 to eliminate the state of emergency in New Hampshire. Citizens are suffering in Nashua without the rule of law.
