A N.H. House committee on Tuesday unanimously recommended that the full House reject a bill that would alter the state’s open primary system.

The House Election Law Committee voted 19-0 against House Bill 101, likely killing the measure.

The proposal calls for changing the state’s voting rules to require undeclared voters to declare a party affiliation at least four months before participating in that party’s primary.

Currently, these voters are allowed to register as a Democrat or Republican on primary election day and then immediately switch back to undeclared after casting their ballot.

Rep. Ross Berry, R-Manchester, argued against the bill Tuesday, saying that under state law, the political parties determine for themselves how to run their primaries.

“This bill would effectively be removing that choice,” he said. “There’s no point in doing that. If either political party felt that this was a good idea, they could already implement it. So why take it away from them?”

Rep. Michael Moffett, R-Loudon, is the bill’s prime sponsor.

He said Monday the current system allows voters of one party to engage in “mischief” by voting in another party’s primary in order to field a weaker candidate.

He asserted that this was partly to blame for Keene Mayor George Hansel’s defeat to Bob Burns in last year’s Republican primary for the 2nd Congressional District seat. Democratic U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster of Hopkinton easily defeated Burns of Pembroke in the Nov. 8 general election.

For his part, Hansel said he has no complaint with New Hampshire’s election system, but also said the Democratic party meddled in his contest through television advertisements that boosted Burns’ name recognition and through an anonymous mailer that the N.H. Attorney General’s Office is still investigating.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org. 

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