New Hampshire

New Hampshirites may live free or die, but they sure don’t vote free due to Republican politicians. In 2017 and 2018, New Hampshire GOP legislators passed bills (SB 3 and HB 1264) that disenfranchised voters across New Hampshire. Those bills raised unnecessary barriers to voting and will require students to pay a poll tax in order to vote. Gov. Sununu signed the bills into law even though he said he “hated” a bill similar to HB 1264, which redefines residency and revokes the voting rights of students who live in New Hampshire. In response to those anti-democratic measures, Let America Vote started working in New Hampshire to protect the right to vote. In November 2018, New Hampshire voters sent a clear message that they were against the illegal voter suppression laws that the GOP had enacted by giving New Hampshire Democrats control of both the state House and Senate.

New Hampshire Democrats kept their promise to Granite State voters and passed bills (HB 105HB 106SB 67) that repeal the restrictive voting measures enacted by Republicans. But Gov. Sununu cravenly refrained from signing the bills and the restrictive measures went into effect on July 1. Instead, Gov. Sununu vetoed the bills, therefore keeping in place a modern day poll tax for New Hampshire voters. 

Gov. Sununu also vetoed a bill that had broad bipartisan support that would establish an independent redistricting commission (HB 706). Gov. Sununu vetoed the bill even though it would have prevented extreme partisan gerrymandering.

Not only has Gov. Sununu stonewalled pro-voter bills, he also vetoed four bills that would promote free and fair elections. The four election reform bills (SB 156SB 68HB 504SB 106) would have improved campaign finance reform and increased transparency in elections.

One win for voting rights was the passage of a bill that expands absentee voting accessibility for the elderly and disabled citizens (HB 531). Granite State Democrats have proposed other pro-voter policies this session that did not pass, including automatic voter registration (SB 7), no-excuse absentee voting (HB 611CA 6) and early voting for people over 60 years (HB 535).