Tagged: voter ID

Today on The Exchange, revisiting New Hampshire's Voter ID laws. With stricter ID provisions ready to kick in at the polls this September, a new house bill looks to pull back on these requirements. Supporters cite disproportionate toll on certain groups of voters, such as minorities and the elderly, while opponents voice concerns about potential fraud. We're talking to both sides of this issue, taking place not only in the Granite State, but states across the country.

Guests:

Some key votes are coming up within a busy House docket: the tobacco tax increase, expected to pass, but at less than the Governor's proposed level; freezing the second phase of the Voter ID law, halting provisions set to take effect this fall that would eliminate some of the current acceptable forms of identification, namely college students' school IDs; a change of the "Stand Your Ground" law, reinstating the requirement that people make an effort to retreat before using deadly force.

The House has voted to change a voter registration law that will make it clear that out-of-state college students have a right to vote in New Hampshire.

A group of Democratic lawmakers want to repeal the voter ID requirements implemented under Republican leadership.

Current law requires that voters be asked for photo identification at the polls, but does not require they have one to cast a ballot.

In elections this year, people who wanted to vote but did not have ID had to sign an affidavit.

Proponents argue the measure helps to prevent voter fraud, but Tim Horrigan, a Durham Democrat, says there is no evidence that a problem exists.

The Secretary of State’s Office says the first Election Day under the new Voter ID law was a low-cost success story.  But over the next few months, those costs will rise.

But how much money the state will have to pay to implement and enforce the Voter ID law is still an open question. 

Today, everyone who goes to the polls will be asked to show a photo-ID in order to vote. This is the second  step in a phased in process instituting voter ID’s over the next few election cycles. The process began with the primary in September when poll workers asked to see an ID but let voters cast a ballot regardless of whether they produced one or not.

Today poll workers will ask for an ID, and anyone who does not have one will have to sign “a qualified voter affidavit” stating,