News

The race for voting rights is on in New Hampshire

By Team New Hampshire

Let America Vote’s mission is to create political consequences for politicians who suppress the vote, and now that New Hampshire’s general election is underway that’s exactly what we’re going to do. With the 2018 campaign fully engaged, you’re going to see our interns and volunteers going full-tilt from now through Election Day.

As we begin this new phase, it’s worth reflecting on what brought us here.

We came to New Hampshire because Gov. Chris Sununu and his Republican allies in the legislature decided to make it harder for eligible Granite State voters to cast ballots.

They started with Senate Bill 3 in 2017, and doubled down with House Bill 1264 earlier this year. There’s no debate about this: these laws make it more difficult for people to vote, period. That is their objective and their effect. They raise unnecessary barriers to exercising the constitutional right to vote, particularly for young and working people and newcomers to the state.  

Republicans have written a poll tax into New Hampshire state law, adding unnecessary expense for eligible voters to cast ballots where they live. This is wrong. It’s a call back to some of the ugliest periods of our political history. In 2018, politicians should be making it easier — not harder — for eligible voters to cast their ballots.

That’s why, following Tuesday’s primary election, Let America Vote is redoubling our efforts and building upon what we’ve already done in New Hampshire.

We’ve been on the ground here for almost a year — going all the way back to Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig’s historic victory last fall. We opened an office in June, bringing in scores of interns and volunteers who knocked thousands of doors through the summer.

The next phase of that effort begins now: for the next two months we’ll be talking to voters from the Seacoast to the White Mountains, from the North Country to Nashua and everywhere in between.

And we’ll be proud to do it on behalf of pro-democracy candidates like Democratic gubernatorial nominee Molly Kelly and up-and-coming legislative leaders like Jon Morgan, Jenn Alford-Teaster, Shannon Chandley, and Tom Sherman.

We’re going to deliver victories for voting-rights champions by engaging our neighbors house-to-house and conversation-by-conversation. Let the word go forth: if you’re a Republican who made it harder to vote in 2017 and 2018, you’re a Republican who’s going to have a lot harder time to get re-elected to serve in 2019 and 2020.

As New Hampshire residents we have an obligation to defend democracy and a tradition of upholding voting rights. The team at Let America Vote will be doing just that, and we hope you’ll join us.

If you’d like to join our team as an intern, visit letamericavote.org/intern or text INTERN to 44939. If you’d like to volunteer, check out letamericavote.org/volunteer or text VOLUNTEER to 44939.

We have partnered with Claim Your Vote to raise awareness about the voting rights of students in New Hampshire. Learn more at ClaimYourVote.org.