— You Can Still Register to Vote

Liz Canada 0:00

Do you have a tagline that you really wanted to jump in with? No, nothing will beat my first one. I know it was such a good one. It's on the mug. You made it to the merch, but now it's not accurate. So you have to like get a sticker to cover it. Do you have your birth certificate? Just in general. No. Okay.

McKenzie Taylor 0:15

Well, you can still have it? No? That's good. I'll you're fine.

Liz Canada 0:18

You can still register. Good news. You're listening to New Hampshire Has Issues. And I am your host, Liz Canada. This mini sode is the update to the voting episode from last summer. McKenzie Taylor is back. She has updates for us in terms of the recent court decision, which was a good thing for democracy. She's also here with updates on what has changed that is not so good because of the state legislature and the governor's actions. A quick recap. The requirements to vote in New Hampshire are number one, you must be a U.S. citizen. Number two, you must be 18 years or older, on or before Election Day. And number three, New Hampshire is your home. I'm going to make an assumption that you, as a listener, uh are already registered to vote in New Hampshire. But I'm also going to guess that you know someone who isn't. So here's what you're going to do. You're going to listen to this episode from beginning to end, of course. And then you're going to set a date to help that friend get registered this summer. You're going to make sure that they know what they need to bring with them. And you're going to go with them to their town or city clerk's office to register. And then you're going to go treat yourself to like an ice cream. Because this really matters, and your friend needs you. Yes, you can register on the day of the election. But also, don't you want to hang out with your friend and go have a nice day? Uh if you like this podcast and you think more people should have this information, you think it's important, and you have the ability, you can become a monthly supporter of this little podcast at patreon.com slash nh has issues. The link to that is in the episode description, and there are always a lot of links in the episode description. Alright, I'm gonna hand it back over to McKenzie and me. Thank you for listening. Welcome back, McKenzie Taylor. So my guest today, McKenzie Taylor. She is the America Votes New Hampshire State Director. You were here chatting with me not so long ago, but uh about a bit ago. A little bit ago. About voting rights. And we have some updates, it sounds like, and I'm excited to hear from you. So welcome back, McKenzie. Thank you, Liz. Excited to be here and excited to be here with some good news for voting rights in New Hampshire for what? Some good news on the pod. Who knew it was possible to even happen? Very occasionally, if we're lucky. So there was just a major court decision a few weeks ago, about two weeks ago, about our election laws in New Hampshire, ones that you talked about when we were uh recording our first episode together. So, McKenzie, tell me what happened and what does it mean?

— The Court Decision on Proof of Citizenship

McKenzie Taylor 3:08

Yes. So we talked about the last time I was on the show, House Bill 1569, that required folks to bring documentary proof of citizenship, so their passport, birth certificate, naturalization papers with them in order to register to vote. There was a lawsuit, litigation, um, and a that was two-week trial in February on this bill. And the ruling came out, and that documentary proof of citizenship part of the law was overturned. And the most important part of this that folks should know is that now, if you don't have that physical proof of citizenship either at all in your life or you don't have it with you when you go to register to vote, you will be able to prove your citizenship by signing an affidavit, just like it was prior to this bill, uh, to be able to show that you are a US citizen without bringing those documents with you. The court said, you know, that burden of having those documents is just too high. And especially, you know, they they looked really closely at the number of people who had been turned away when this law was in effect, which showed, you know, these documents are not available to folks. They don't have them with them. And it really was voter suppression.

Liz Canada 4:17

Ooh, what we uh thought might be the case turned out to be It was the case. Wow. Really big plot twist there. No longer need documentary proof of citizenship. Obviously, you still need to be a citizen to vote, but the documentary proof of citizenship is not required because of this court decision. They said it was a burden, unconstitutional, and they overturned it. So we did it, McKenzie, right? Like everything is fixed with voting in New Hampshire. Is that what I'm hearing? I wish. Hashtag we did it.

— What Voting Restrictions Still Remain

McKenzie Taylor 4:49

We're done. Yeah. No, we're we are not done. And I think it's really important to know that the this part of the law, the documentary proof of citizenship part, was overturned, but the other changes, some of the other changes in the law remain. So prior to House Will 1569 passing originally, if you didn't have, for example, your proof of domicile, your address where you lived, you could sign an affidavit for that too. That is not the case anymore.

Liz Canada 5:16

Affidavit, it's like you would get in trouble if you were not recording the truth by signing it.

— What Documents Voters Need Now

McKenzie Taylor 5:21

Yes. Very serious penalties. Those used to be available before this bill passed, and that is not available anymore. So the important thing to know now is if you're going to register to vote, you still need proof of identity. This also changed this legislative session a little bit because we can't go a session without making it a little bit harder to vote. Oh boy. Student IDs used to be a way you could show your identity. Now those don't count any more. For college students. For college students. It has to be a government ID. So that is a license could be from any state as long as it's, you know, you, your photo, not expired in most cases. If you're older, there's like some some flexibility there. A passport works for this as well, you know, your name, photo, uh, a military ID or a like a non-driver's ID, but it has to be that government ID. Can't use your U and H or or Dartmouth ID anymore. So you need to have that proof of identity. Again, who you are, your name, your photo, your age. So in most of those cases, like your license, if you have one, is gonna have your birthday. So easy, same document and domicile. So your address. Again, for some people, like right now, my address and my license is the same as where I live and register to vote. So if that's the case for you, you just need to make sure you have your license with all that information when you register. If your address is not accurate on your license, because it really is a pain to change it. You gotta like get a new one, you get the paper one that no one accepts for a while. So if you've changed your address, you've moved, you, for example, changed on your car registration, but not on your license, you'll have to bring that additional document as well. Uh, so that could be, you know, again, a government check is uh is one of the ways you can do that, a car registration, a license. If you don't have those things, um, a lease agreement for college students who live on campus, um, the colleges can have like a portal that has like, you know, this is your name and this is your official campus address, which makes it, you know, accessible. However, in the past, if you were like, oh, I forgot it, it would be okay. People do need to bring that to register. And if they don't have that with them, they're not going to be able to.

Liz Canada 7:33

So if I'm a if I'm much younger than I am now, if I were in college and I needed that information from my portal, do I need to print it? Or does like showing it on my like on my phone work?

McKenzie Taylor 7:46

Be able to show it right on your phone. We never trust the internet access in the polling places. It is a little bit spotty. So get a screenshot of that info. And um, especially this is really common for you know college students, be able to show that, show that address um in addition to your proof of identity and age.

Liz Canada 8:04

So driver's license needs to not have been expired for most people, probably is the case. But that'll show your identity because it has your photo, it has your age, because it'll have your birth date, obviously. If you are living where the address is on your driver's license, that deals with domicile. If not, things like a car registration, uh a lease agreement if you're a renter, your mortgage statement, if you're, you know, if you've purchased your house, if you're a student, something in your college portal will show that your domicile is at that college. Okay. That's still a lot of stuff that you might need to bring. It is.

McKenzie Taylor 8:45

Let me check actually the expiration date law because I just want to make sure.

Liz Canada 8:49

Listeners, we are triple checking our work because this is really important. We want to make sure that you have the most accurate information because it would be extremely painful if you listened to this episode and you were like, well, Liz McKenzie told me that I only needed XYZ. And I was wrong. Important.

McKenzie Taylor 9:06

Okay, on

— ID Expiration Rules, Double-Checked!

McKenzie Taylor 9:07

the expiration dates. This is why even the law is changing so much and is so complicated that you do this every day and need to check. Photo ID has to be not expired by more than five years. So if it expired like last month, last year, you are okay. If you are over 65, you can use it even if it doesn't have, you know, it's expired for longer. So someone is over 65, you know, they're not driving anymore. So they have an old ID, but they haven't, you know, renewed it. That is still gonna work for those folks.

Liz Canada 9:38

Great.

McKenzie Taylor 9:38

Important clarifications.

Liz Canada 9:40

Important clarifications. We check our work so that you have the most accurate information. We want you to know what you need to register to vote. And it's ever changing. It is ever changing. When you were last on the show, college students could bring a student ID. That is no longer the case. But if they have moved to New Hampshire from another state and their driver's license is from that other state, that would work for some of the pieces that they need to register to vote. As long as it's not expired five years ago. Exactly.

McKenzie Taylor 10:08

Because we know, you know, students move and then they don't have their car. Like they're not driving often, right?

— Register Early In Person or Register on Election Day

Liz Canada 10:14

So right now, McKenzie, we are in the middle of filing period. This is the moment where people are filing to run for governor, executive council, state senate, state rep. They're doing that between now and June 12th, which is very exciting. All the things. Getting our candidates. It's happening. If you're on social media and you have any like political algorithm in your world, you are seeing people announce that they are running or they are not running for this election. For the New Hampshire state primary, which is on September 8th. If a listener wants to register to vote to be able to participate in that election, or for the general election, November 3rd, what do they need to know? Because some listeners might need to register, but probably might want to help someone in New Hampshire register to vote. What do they need to know? Absolutely.

McKenzie Taylor 11:13

So we do have election day registration, same day registration. So people, if you wait up until the day of, you can register to vote again, as long as you bring those things with you. However, you can also register early, earlier than that, at your town or city clerk's office. So you got a long summer ahead, maybe have a day off during the week, and want to either register or help someone that you know go and register to vote at the clerk's office. The line is gonna be probably shorter than it would be on election day, save a little bit of time. Um, you can go and do that and register to vote at that town or city clerk's office up to depends on the town, six to 13 days ahead of the election. And again, folks will need to bring their ID with them, whatever form of government ID they're gonna use, and that proof of address and proof of age, which all you know could be on your license or might be a couple of documents. And then you'll be registered. And when you go to vote in the primary and in November, uh, you won't have to wait in that registration line. You can go and it is required now, other part of the law, you do need to show a photo ID, a government ID again to get your ballot. So if you register early or you're already registered, awesome. When you go to the polls on election day, you're gonna be asked to show that government ID, proves who you say you are, um, and then you'll be given your ballot. If you don't have that ID with you, again, like if you go to the polls and you forget it in the car, you are not gonna be able to cast a ballot without showing that government ID to the poll workers. So uh that is the other important thing to remember that is different than previous years and is really critical to think about uh ahead of election day.

— Don’t Forget Your ID at the Polls

Liz Canada 12:54

You can go to your town or city clerk earlier. The clerk will be so happy to see you. It's like, oh my goodness, you're here to register to vote. Usually people are waiting until the day of. You can do your work in advance, and then on election day, you still need to bring an ID. Yes. That is now the law in New Hampshire. You must show an ID. So don't forget that it's great that you registered in advance and you'll still need to bring that with you. If you're driving, I hope you have your driver's license on you as you drive to the polls. So just bring that inside with you. Absolutely. Bring a friend to your town clerk or city clerk, to their town clerk or city clerk. Make it a day trip. I mean, go to lunch. Make it a day trip, then go to the beach, go for a hike, get some ice cream, treat yourself after you register to vote. Go get some ice cream afterwards. It's summer in New Hampshire. It's all the best things and registering to vote early. We love to see it. All right, so I have one more question because I don't think we talked about this in the first episode. So as we think about like all these election laws and things are changing when it comes to New Hampshire elections and, you know, guidance on what to bring or what is allowed, the person who is like in charge of New Hampshire elections is the Secretary of State. How does the Secretary of State get that job? Because I just mentioned all of these other offices where people are filing to be candidates. How does the Secretary of State get that job?

— Who Chooses New Hampshire’s Secretary of State?

McKenzie Taylor 14:13

It's an excellent question. So in a lot of other states, the voters like vote for the Secretary of State on the same ballot as they vote for governor, all these other offices. In New Hampshire, because we are so special, our legislature, so all 400 state reps and 24 state senators, 424 people, vote on the Secretary of State the same day they are sworn in in early December. Big job for the first day. I know, big decision, first day on the job. You don't have a say, you know, on the ballot directly, but your legislators do. So that is the process by which the Secretary of State is chosen every two years. And it has to be, they have to get a majority of the vote. It's done uh on a secret ballot. I think just little pieces of paper that get counted.

Liz Canada 14:59

Oh my God.

McKenzie Taylor 14:59

And that's how we choose our Secretary of State. So it is good to know that, you know, although you are not voting for them, the folks who represent you are taking that vote the same day they're sworn in.

Liz Canada 15:08

Is that the only position in New Hampshire that's like that? Because you have like the department heads in, you know, state government that go through the governor and executive council. We have our candidates who we vote for on the ballot. I don't know if there's anything else that's sort of like in that unique position, actually.

McKenzie Taylor 15:24

Not in that same way. The there's a couple of folks that are like relevant to the state house. So like the sergeant at arms, I think, gets the same voting process. And sure. The house clerk, why I can't think of also gets the same process in terms of voting.

Liz Canada 15:39

That feels fairly internal to their work, right? And the Secretary of State is so much broader, like impacts so much of what's happening in New Hampshire. Very unique situation there.

McKenzie Taylor 15:50

Not even just voting. You know, Secretary of State also oversees like the lobbying reports and all of that work. A ton of business pieces are at Secretary of State's office. So it's a really big job. If you didn't, if you didn't know how that person uh gets into office, that's the process.

Liz Canada 16:06

The 424

— Final Takeaway and Thanks to Seacoast Soils

Liz Canada 16:07

legislators, they make that call. All right, McKenzie. Thank you. Great mini sode. Get up to date and hopefully uh folks have the information they need. And I imagine you might come back if anything changes in the future. Of course. Thanks, Liz. Thanks, McKenzie. New Hampshire has Issues is generously sponsored by Seacoast Soils, an organic compost and topsoil provider for New Hampshire, Maine, and Northeast Passachus. Visit their website at www.seaccoastsoil.com.