As Concord prepares for municipal elections, it’s time to check on your voter registration and make sure it’s up to date. It’s also time to get familiar with some of the changes coming to the ballot box this year as new state laws go into effect.
Hand-counting ballots
Voters can now request that their ballot be hand-counted instead of tabulated by an electronic device. After filling out your ballot, all you’ll need to do is inform the poll worker overseeing the electronic devices of your preference, and they’ll place it aside to be counted by hand after polls close.
This change, included in House Bill 154, was sponsored by Loudon Rep. Alvin See and a cohort of other Republicans in the towns surrounding Concord.
Absentee voting
There are new requirements and restrictions for voters planning to cast their ballots by drop-off or mail instead of going to the polls.
For starters, as the result of Senate Bill 287, if you’re applying to vote absentee you must now send in proof of identity. This can be done by including a copy of your photo identification, like a driver’s license, personally showing it to the clerk or getting your signature on the absentee ballot notarized.
Three people are challenging this law in court, but for now, it remains in effect.
Additionally, another new law will add all the same qualifications for voters registering to vote absentee as those required in-person: citizenship, age, domicile and identity. If you can’t prove those four things, your application will be denied. The clerk will let you know.
While planners may want to get set up early, a new law mandates that election clerks can only accept absentee ballot applications within six months of the election. If you do apply too early, the clerk will let you know, send along a new application form and inform you of the earliest date you can apply.
Registered in New Hampshire before?
If you used to be registered to vote in New Hampshire or are switching your registration from one town or ward to another within the state, you won’t need to resubmit age or citizenship documentation as long as you can prove you’ve been registered in the state before.
Electioneering law loosened
State law prohibits a practice known as “electioneering,” where no one is allowed to wear clothing or paraphernalia that visibly or audibly advocates for or against any candidate, political party or ballot question. Senate Bill 43 loosens that law a bit, allowing eligible voters who cannot “reasonably remove or cover” problematic clothing to still register and vote — as long as they don’t hang around the polling place unnecessarily.
This article was updated to reflect that all the same qualifications and documentation are required to register to vote absentee as in person.