Vicky Nawoichyk: 00:00

Some voters add a P.O. box or move their street address to a P.O. box. And unfortunately, in the state laws, we cannot take a P.O. box, because your domicile is where you lay your head at night, and you don't live in a mailbox. Or at least I hope you don't.

Liz Canada: 00:16

Housing is expensive, but hopefully it's not that expensive.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Exactly.

Liz Canada:

For only $1,500 a month, you can live in a mailbox.

You're listening to New Hampshire Has Issues, and I am your host, Liz Canada. Maybe you've heard: there is an election coming up on Tuesday, November 3rd. And in this episode, Vicky, a supervisor of the checklist, spends time explaining to me what the heck a supervisor of the checklist is, what checklists we're even talking about, how to register to vote, and how someone might find out that they're no longer a registered voter. We cover a lot of ground in this episode, and it's all in under 30 minutes, which is incredible.

If you are hoping to be helpful in terms of supporting this podcast, the best thing you can do right now is hit subscribe on whatever platform you're listening to this on. If you're already a subscriber, thank you so much for doing that. And I would love it if you would leave a rating on whatever platform you're on as well. That would also be incredibly helpful.

All right, let's just get right into it. I'm gonna pass it over to Vicky and me. Thank you for listening.

I feel completely unprepared for this episode. In a good way, because I'm gonna learn and ask questions.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

This is exciting.

Liz Canada:

Vicky, did you bring a tagline? Should I— you want me to do mine first?

Vicky Nawoichyk:

I did. Yes.

Liz Canada:

Welcome to New Hampshire Has Issues, the podcast that dares to ask: who are those friendly people with binders on Election Day?

Vicky Nawoichyk: 01:59

Yay! Welcome to New Hampshire Has Issues, where you dare to ask: are you registered to vote?

Liz Canada: 02:04

There has to be a way to find out. I don't know what it is, I guess, but there has to be some secret way. Just kidding, everyone. There are ways. There are links in the show notes. My guest today is one supervisor of the checklist, Vicky Nawoichyk. Vicky—

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Perfectly pronounced. Nicely done.

Liz Canada:

Thank you. I only had to write it out for myself twice.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

That's okay.

Liz Canada: 02:28

Nailed it. Vicky, welcome to the show. Thank you so much.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. I do have two other supervisors that I work with here in Exeter. I’m not here to represent Exeter, and, you know, how we manage ourselves. I'm here to talk about the job of the supervisor and what we do, overarching. So I don't want this to feel like, oh, this is an Exeter thing. This is actually the state thing, and we have laws. Showed you the book.

Liz Canada:

You got the book.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

I got laws. I got the binders of laws.

Liz Canada:

Binders full of laws. 

Vicky Nawoichyk:

I'm also very nonpartisan. I'm very clear on that. I'm not here to tell you how to vote, how to cast your ballot, which way you want to do it. However, I think there are things that voters need to be aware of.

Liz Canada:

I am so glad that you're here.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Thanks for asking the questions. Not a lot of people know we exist and how it's done.

Liz Canada:

You're like secret people.

Liz Canada: 03:28

All right. Supervisor of the checklist. Let me just start pretty basic. That's the coolest title. You could be an executive councilor, whatever that means. You could be a select board member, but you are a supervisor. You are very important. So let's start with a simple question.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Sure.

Liz Canada:

I have lots of checklists in my life, Vicky.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

I do too.

Liz Canada:

My checklist for this podcast, a mere hobby, is overwhelming. Are you the supervisor of that? And if not, can you be the supervisor of those checklists?

Vicky Nawoichyk: 04:01

Well, I do have control issues, and I may want to take over your checklists. Yeah, we manage a whole other list, and that would be our eligible registered voters for the town that they are living in.

Liz Canada: 04:15

Supervisor of the checklist. The checklist is the list of eligible voters, or people who are already registered. Who's on that checklist?

Vicky Nawoichyk: 04:24

The people that are on that checklist are folks that have come in and met either with the supervisors of the checklist during a session of the supervisors, or on Election Day when they register to vote at the polling place because they find that they're not on the voter rolls, or at the town clerk's office. But either way, you bring your documents to prove your domicile, your age, your ID, and your citizenship.

Liz Canada: 04:50

We're talking about what you need in order to register to vote. And once you register to vote, you're on the checklist in the town or city that you live in. So I live in Exeter, you know this. I live in Exeter. I am only on the Exeter checklist.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 05:05

That is correct. So the town that you're living in is the only town you can be registered to vote in.

Liz Canada: 05:10

So if somebody's moving from another town, registering here, it's kind of like fantasy football. They've been drafted, you got them, they're off another team. Now they're on our team.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

That's correct. Yep.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 05:20

So that happens now every 90 days. So we get notification of that. And again, you know, voters sometimes, when they go to the DMV here in New Hampshire, if they're new to New Hampshire, to get their New Hampshire driver's license—

Liz Canada:

You cannot register at the DMV.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 05:37

You cannot register to vote at the DMV in New Hampshire.The only two ways you can register to vote in New Hampshire are in person. And oh, by the way, you can't take that document with you. Can't leave the building. It stays with us. So it's not like homework, where you take it home, fill it out, and bring it back.

Liz Canada:

Can't take it with you, folks.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

You can't take it with you, especially because we have families that come in and they're like, oh, my son's 18 now, I want to bring this to him. They have to come in and see us. If the voter is infirm, unable to get physically to the town clerk's office or to a supervisor session, there are means for them to register by mail, but they have to provide a number of different documents. They have to send us copies of their ID, of their citizenship as well. And that is a new law. We didn't have that before. Citizenship didn't need to be proven when you're registering absentee. But we do have that happen. But now there's documents that you need in order to do that.

Liz Canada: 06:45

The ways to register—

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Yeah.

Liz Canada:

—in person, essentially. And you can go to your town or city clerk's office—

Vicky Nawoichyk:

During their open hours, correct.

Liz Canada:

During their open hours. You can go on Election Day, when you're going to vote.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 07:00

And you will not check in at the ballot book. You will look for the sign for supervisors of the checklist, make your way down, and come and see us.

Liz Canada: 07:09

But also, people can register with you, supervisor of the checklist, a secret third thing that I have definitely never said on this podcast in all of these episodes. The secret third thing is the supervisor of the checklist. How do we find you? It's like Carmen Sandiego.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 07:25

So we have to post our meetings, which are posted at the library. They're posted on the town office website. And we also print them and post them in the town clerk's office. So it's out there. It's on our town website, it's on our Facebook page, whatever socials we have. And that meeting happens every 90 days now, which is a new law in the state of New Hampshire for supervisors. So that ensures that voters that come in to register, their documents actually get seen, added, and approved within 90 days. We have to have a quorum, and that would be the three of us, or two, right? In order to approve the voters. So I can't just say, oh, okay, today is the day, I'm gonna approve these 20 voters, and now they're on the checklist. We have to publish it. We have minutes for our meeting, and that includes, you know, public information only, and that's how you get on the checklist. So if you've registered to vote in the last few months, your supervisors may have met in June or in July, and they're mandated seven to ten days prior to an election to have a supervisor session to finalize the checklist, so we can print our ballot books for Election Day.

Liz Canada:

Okay, let's get real here, Vicky.

Liz Canada: 08:57

Yeah. On previous episodes, I say things like, go to your town clerk's office, listener, go register now. Be real with me. Does anybody do that, Vicky?

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Oh my god, yes.

Liz Canada:

Really?

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Yes. So this last session—

Liz Canada:

I'm so glad. Oh my god.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 09:12

Yeah, oh yeah. A lot of people are definitely doing that. So when they're new to town, you know, they come in to register their car and do all of those things. And our town clerk will then ask, do you want to register to vote? And here's the document. You know, do you have all the documents that you need in order to meet the requirements in order to register? If they don't, they can come back and fill that out, or they can come during Election Day. But yes, voters absolutely do. We frequently have a couple hundred people between our last meeting and now. So, like, yesterday, Exeter just had their supervisor session yesterday evening, and something over 140 people were added to our checklist.

Liz Canada: 09:58

Oh my god.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Yeah.

Liz Canada:

I thought it would be like three people. "Wait, we got three new voters."

Vicky Nawoichyk:

No, no, we see a lot.

Liz Canada:

And so those hundred-plus people, that means they went to the town clerk's office, filled out all the information, gave it to the town clerk.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Correct.

Liz Canada:

I assumed, here in my ignorance, I'll say it, I'm always happy to be very upfront about my ignorance. I thought when I go to the town clerk's office and I give all the information, the town clerk goes boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, and then I'm there. I've arrived. But I'm hearing that maybe that's not how it works.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 10:31

It's not how it works. So you fill out your documents, and then they put it in a file for us, because we are not full-time employees of the town. We do not sit in the town offices all day. We have full-time jobs and real lives outside of voter registration and being a supervisor of the checklist and an election official. So what happens is they put that in a file for us and keep that secure until we are in session. And then we enter all of those voters in, and they go into what we call a pending status until our official meeting. And that meeting is announced. It's posted. It has to be publicly posted, so voters can actually have a chance. If they haven't been able to get to the town clerk's office, we have it in the evening, so voters can come in after hours. And every town is mandated to do this. Every supervisor of the checklist, we follow all the same laws. So it's not, you know, one town does it differently. We can choose different days, though, right? So we have that window, the seven to ten days before the election, to choose to have our session. And certain towns do it a little earlier, meaning the 10 days, and some do it the seven days. But it really gives us and our town clerk time to print the ballot books, make sure that they're accurate, and they're, you know, three-hole punched and ready to go and held secure until we go to Election Day.

Liz Canada: 12:01

All of these steps— I mean, when you go to the town clerk's office, it's not like that's a public meeting. You're doing it and you're there, but it's a very official process. It's held secure. And then the supervisors of the checklist, your meeting is a public meeting. People can go to it. So if I wanted to be like, I want to know what those supervisors are up to and how it works, I could literally go to a meeting and see this process in action. 'Cause it's a public meeting.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Yes.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 12:31

Yes. And the funny thing is, in the law, we're only required to meet for 30 minutes. So the session can literally be from 7 to 7:30. We've— our voters are all entered into the system. We've reviewed all of the information, and literally we just approve, and then our session can be completed. It is also a time where we can talk about other things. So, supervisors, we have to be very careful how many of us are in a room together. So if we do a registration drive, or someone asks us to attend a registration drive, we three cannot be there. Only one of us. Because once we go to two, we're a quorum. So yeah. But our town clerk can join us, right? Because they're not a supervisor of the checklist, and they're not approving or not approving a document. They're the ones that are just helping the process. And then, you're not registered to vote until an official session of the supervisors. So if your local high school has hosted something for your 18-year-olds, those voters are not registered. So we can't call it a registration event, because they're not registered. They are filling out their documents and we are receiving that document, but they do not get approved and added to our checklist until the session of the supervisors, when we have a quorum.

Liz Canada:

Vicky, I had no idea about this.

Liz Canada: 14:07

I don't care if every listener here is like, "Liz is so ridiculous not knowing this." I did not know this. You could, as a supervisor of the checklist, go to Exeter High School and say, parents, let the students know, seniors, you can come here, we can fill out the paperwork. You fill it out, you're not a registered voter yet, because Vicky has to go back to a supervisor meeting, a publicly noticed meeting. That's when the magic happens—

Vicky Nawoichyk:

That is correct.

Liz Canada:

—and that's when you're on the checklist. That's when you get on the checklist.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 14:39

Yes. That's when the fairy dust gets dusted, and then you're magically on the list. Yes. It's not magic, it's a lot of work.

Liz Canada: 14:47

There's no magic involved, and it's all publicly available. You can go and watch it all happen.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Correct.

Liz Canada:

And you are a team of three. Does every town— is it always three? Or is it—

Vicky Nawoichyk:

It's always three.

Liz Canada:

So, like the witches in Macbeth. Love it. It's pretty cool, actually. Okay.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Yes.

Liz Canada:

Where shall we three meet again? 

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Exactly. 

Liz Canada:

At the town office. It's publicly noticed, don't worry.

I have heard that there are instances where people may not be on the checklist anymore.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Yes.

Liz Canada:

And people use the word purge. The voter list gets purged. There are times where someone was on the checklist and is now no longer. How does that happen? And why? And like, is it that Vicky went in and deleted somebody? Like, how does it happen? I assume not. But what is the process of no longer being on the checklist? Maybe I think I am. Maybe I thought I was a registered voter, I showed up, and I find out I'm not.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Yeah.

Liz Canada:

How does all that happen?

Vicky Nawoichyk: 15:47

Yeah. So I'm going to correct you on the usage of purge.

Liz Canada:

Oh, okay.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Because purge is a—

Liz Canada:

The purge.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

—dirty word. 

Liz Canada:

Oh, we don't say purge.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

A lot of people refer to it as the purge, but it is actually a full process that we go through in order to verify the voters that are on our checklist. So it's more of a verification of who is on the checklist, and do they belong on the checklist, or have they moved out of our state. One way of being removed from the voter checklist is for lack of voting. So the law used to be every 10 years. We would go through a verification. It would always happen on the one year, because it's also not a midterm or a general election happening, right? So it's only town meeting happening, usually, in that one year. So the latest one was 2021, right? When we were under that law. Laws changed, and now the state is on an annual verification, which means if you have not voted in the last five years, any election in the state of New Hampshire, you have been removed. And that verification— the town, the supervisors of the checklist, our drop-dead date to have that completed was August 31st. And in order to remove someone, we have to provide a 30-day notice before removal. And what that means is, Liz Canada, if you were living at 156 Front Street—

Liz Canada:

Sure. 

Vicky Nawoichyk:

—and you have moved to 7 Carroll Street, the mail will go to 156 Front Street. And if your forwarding address does not move, then that mail gets returned to us, and you will be removed. So some voters haven't received that notification, because they have either moved out of town or have moved on, and all of that mail comes back to the supervisors. And then, you know, once our 30-day letter goes out, it basically tells the voter, this is what you have to do: re-verify your voting status.

Liz Canada: 18:04

You're looking back the last five years.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Correct.

Liz Canada:

Title of a musical. We won't get into it. I haven't talked about musicals in a while on these podcasts. It got a little serious on here.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 18:14

I mean, I was a theater girl. I got my degree in theater.

Liz Canada: 18:16

So we need to have a whole other episode about that. So, last five years, looking back and saying, has this person voted at all anywhere?

Vicky Nawoichyk: 18:26

No, just within our town. So we only get notification about our voters that are on our checklist.

Liz Canada: 18:34

So, looking back five years: have you voted in any of the state elections, the federal election, the local election? If you were there voting for your street sweeper, then you're fine. If you haven't voted for five years, a 30-day notice goes out to the voter.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

And by law, we have to send that 30-day notification to you.

Liz Canada:

So you're telling me, Vicky, that if we don't use it, we lose it. We get off the checklist, is what you're saying.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Yes, indeed.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 19:02

And that is now an annual process in the state of New Hampshire.

Liz Canada:

Always looking back five years.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

There is also a thing where certain states have sent notification to us that voters have registered with the registrant of elections, or whatever the terminology is for whatever state they're coming from. Sometimes they will send notice. It's not required. So that's why sometimes voters can potentially be registered in two different states, because again, voter rolls are owned by the state, and by their town within the state.

Liz Canada: 19:41

Which doesn't mean they're casting ballots in two states. It just means they might be on two different lists.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Correct. Correct. So yes.

Liz Canada:

And there's nothing wrong with being on two. It just means maybe that's a state that doesn't send notice to New Hampshire.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 19:56

Correct. And this is part of the reason why the verification of the checklist actually got changed, I think, to annual. It just keeps the voter rolls cleaner. And again, we're not picking people just because. It's not that sort of thing. There are certain parameters, and we are being told by the Secretary of State, this is your list of voters who have not voted within that parameter; they need to be removed. And then we have to do our due diligence, meaning sending out all of that mail to our voter citizens, and then they have 30 days in order to act on that. And if they do not come back to us and re-register or re-enroll, they will then be removed.

Liz Canada: 20:41

I'm really fascinated by all of this, because in some ways the election process is so public and transparent. There is no mystery to it, because if the person goes to the town clerk and fills out the paperwork to register, that process is not complete until it happens in a public meeting that people can go to. On Election Day, same thing. The supervisors are over there. So if you need to register, you go to the supervisors of the checklist. Otherwise, you're going to check in to be able to get your ballot. You go over there, you put the ballot in the machine, and all of that, like, it's open. You see everything, it's all happening. When they're counting the ballots later, you can be there. All of it is extremely transparent. And also there are parts that are hard for me to understand. Why can't we register at the DMV? Why can't I register online? And I know it's because of what our laws are, but there are ways to make it just a little bit more, dare I say, accessible than what it is right now.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 21:50

I was gonna use that terminology, accessibility, for sure. Yeah.

Liz Canada: 21:54

Yeah. We talked about it on the previous episode that New Hampshire, in 2022, there was a survey that showed that New Hampshire ranks fiftieth. We are the state where it is most difficult to cast a ballot. Now, it's a fine line, Vicky. I find it to be a fine line. Because what I don't want is for people to be like, I can't vote, it's too hard. You can vote. If you are an eligible voter, you have to bring the documents you need to be able to register. But it's a fine line between, oh, it's too much, and no, you have to be there. You have to show up to vote, because folks are trying to take away your ability to do it.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

That's correct. And you should be pissed off. I'm just saying it.

Liz Canada:

We should all be pissed off by what's happening. Yes, we have the most restrictive process to cast a ballot here in the old Granite State. Live Free or Die. All right, let's hit it one more time. If you're a new voter trying to go register, whether at the town clerk, whether on Election Day, or at a supervisors of the checklist public meeting every 90 days, babes—

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Yeah.

Liz Canada:

What do people need to bring with them to be able to do that?

Vicky Nawoichyk: 23:04

So if you are a person in New Hampshire that has a New Hampshire state driver's license, if you have a current state driver's license that has your accurate domicile address on it, meaning where you sleep at night, that will prove your age. That will prove your ID, because it has your photograph, and it will prove your domicile. So three of the four are met there.

Liz Canada:

Three of the four. So close. Seventy-five percent right there from the old driver's license.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

And shocker, I just want to make everybody aware that your New Hampshire REAL ID does not prove your citizenship in the state of New Hampshire, even though you've gone through the process of proving your citizenship in order to retain that. 

Liz Canada: 23:48

So even though you've done that process to get the REAL ID in the first place, you have to show, I think, like your passport, or something like that—

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Passport, birth certificate, yeah.

Liz Canada:

—has to happen to get the REAL ID.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

That's correct.

Liz Canada:

If you show up on Election Day to register, your REAL ID does not meet the requirements for citizenship.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 24:06

That is correct. So what that REAL ID does is it provides your ID, which is the photograph of your face—

Liz Canada: 24:13

Here I am. This is me.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 24:13

There you are, beautiful as always. Your age, and your domicile. If you do not have your citizenship document, there is an affidavit you will be asked and required to complete, which is a legal document. Now, all of these documents are upholding laws. So if you forge, or if you do something—

Liz Canada:

Why would you do that? It's a legal document. You're not— you're not trying to—

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Correct. So I just wanted to make sure people know you're not filling out paperwork just because we want to make you fill out paperwork. These are legal documents that can be called forward by the Secretary of State if there's ever an inspection. So, your three things: ID, age, and domicile. Your New Hampshire state driver's license, as long as it's up to date. If you do not have your current domicile on it because you've moved, a car registration would be allowed. Citizenship: if you do not have your birth certificate, naturalization papers, or your U.S. passport, you can fill out an affidavit to satisfy that. You complete everything, we send you on your way, you get your ballot. And then, moving forward, you'll be on our checklist year over year if you continue to exercise your right to vote. And I pray that you do.

Liz Canada:

Continue to exercise that right to vote.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Yes. And I implore people to go onto the Secretary of State's link to check your voter lookup. And if you do not find yourself, and you know that you have registered to vote, do not hesitate in picking up the phone and calling the town clerk's office and putting them in touch with the supervisors of the checklist. Send us an email. Most of us within the state have our own supervisor of the checklist email that we monitor while we're out of office. We frequently check our voicemails when we need to. But yeah, I implore everybody. This is a conversation everybody should be having on a daily basis. This is no longer "stick your head in the ground, and oh, maybe I'm registered to vote." Please make sure you're registered to vote. It is your legal right as a U.S. citizen at the age of 18. Please register to vote.

Liz Canada: 26:24

Please register to vote.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 26:25

It's what makes our democracy the democracy that it is. It is free and open elections. So please exercise that right. Like, why wouldn't you? It's a muscle. Use it.

Liz Canada:

It's the most important exercise you can do, using that right to vote.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Yes. If you want to understand what the United States is about, come to an election, right? You can be a poll watcher, right? You can participate, you can be a greeter. If you're interested in becoming a ballot clerk, reach out to your town clerk's office or your moderator. Please, we need people to participate in our elections. This is not, you know, your grandmother's job. This is— hi, I'm in my 50s. This is my job, to support democracy. It is every person who is registered to vote, from the age of 18 until they pass on, to participate in the democracy of our country. And this is how you can be involved. You don't have to be an election official. You don't have to be elected to do it. You get the right every time that there is an opportunity to vote. So please use it. Please. I implore.

Liz Canada: 27:38

Use the democracy before we lose it.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 27:43

Use it or lose it, baby.

Liz Canada: 27:44

Use it or lose it.

Vicky Nawoichyk: 27:49

The governor can't add or remove. The clerk can't add or remove. The only body that can add or remove a voter within the state of New Hampshire is your supervisors of the checklist, which is a body of three in every single town.

Liz Canada: 28:04

Vicky, you are so powerful. You are the most powerful person.

Vicky Nawoichyk:

Yeah.