Letter: The voter fraud myth

Every person convicted of voter fraud in New Hampshire in the past decade would fit in a single canoe.

Lorin Schneider admitted he voted illegally in New Hampshire. He came from Massachusetts to vote in 2008 and 2012. In 2014, Derek Castoguay gave the Salem address on his old driver’s license when he actually lived in Manchester.

Two guys – that’s it.

Senate Bill 3 is not about preventing voter fraud – this bill is designed to suppress voting and intimidate American citizens. It would deny constitutional rights to American citizens for partisan political advantage. This bill targets younger, left-leaning voters; it is telling that a hunting license can be used for identification, but a UNH-issued student ID cannot.

Its new affidavit is complex enough to be considered a literacy test, and it requires voters to sign to acknowledge we “understand the above qualifications.” Threatening to send “officers or their agents” to our homes is a form of intimidation, as are threats of jail and huge fines if we don’t provide the right type of documentation in time.

If you don’t care that American citizens may be disenfranchised, perhaps you care that this bill would waste taxpayer dollars. It makes more work for election officers. And it violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution – the ACLU will take the state to court to block implementation. Lawyers cost money. Those funds could solve actual problems in New Hampshire.

Voter fraud isn’t a big problem in New Hampshire – it fits in a single canoe.

KATE KAYNAK

Hopkinton