WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, a New Hampshire judge dismissed a consolidated lawsuit brought on behalf of voting rights groups and individual voters challenging a 2022 voter suppression law that imposed new burdens on voters who register on Election Day.
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In the order granting the New Hampshire secretary of state and attorney general’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Judge Charles C. Temple held that the plaintiffs lack standing to bring their claims. As a result of the order, S.B. 418’s affidavit ballot regime will remain in place and New Hampshire voters who register on Election Day will need to provide valid proof of photo identification in order to have their ballots counted.
Listen, I hate voter suppression.
But, let’s be honest. If someone waits all the way until day of election and they want to vote… they should prove they live in the district they’re voting.
There is nothing in any state or US constitution that says that only responsible people are allowed to vote, or that extra requirements in order to be able to vote are a good thing.
Everyone gets to vote. That’s the rule. There’s absolutely a place for good-faith restrictions to be enacted to make voter fraud a difficult thing, but as the plaintiffs in this lawsuit point out, there’s no indication that voter fraud is happening on any scale in New Hampshire, or that this requirement will make it more difficult. Which makes it hard to avoid the conclusion that the real reason is to make it just slightly more difficult for certain types of people to vote. Which is a hell of a lot more of a problem than someone voting who, for reasons other than fraud, can’t prove on the spot where they live.
