House and Senate to vote on voter residency requirement

Next Wednesday, June 1 the state House and Senate will vote on SB 4, a bill that would require voters to live in the state at least ten days before voting.

SB 4 already passed the House and Senate once, but the two chambers could not agree on the length of time voters should live in the state. The House wanted to extend the period to thirty days. A conference committee is recommending ten days as a compromise.

Bill supporters want to stop the practice of "drive-by" voting, in which campaign workers from out-of-state declare New Hampshire as their domicile for a short time, then leave after the election.

Speaking on behalf of the Election Law Committee, Rep. Adam Schroadter reported, "Testimony included surprisingly high statistics of voters registering in New Hampshire with out- of-state drivers’ licenses and verified cases of drive-by-voting from the Department of Justice."

Bill opponents argue that the ten day requirement will deprive legitimate voters of the right to vote.

Gov. Maggie Hassan vetoed a similar bill, SB 179, in 2015. At the time she wrote, "Restricting the rights of those who are constitutionally eligible to vote with a durational requirement does nothing to prevent people from lying about where they live, it merely denies people who recently moved to New Hampshire and are lawful residents of our state their fundamental right to vote."

UPDATE: Read our Citizen Voices℠ report and find out where New Hampshire stands on this issue.