×
×
homepage logo
LOGIN
SUBSCRIBE

You can still vote Tuesday without a photo ID

By Staff | Sep 11, 2012

Whenever it comes time to vote, there is no shortage of excuses for voters to fall back on to explain why they can’t be bothered to exercise their civic duty.

Don’t like politics. Too busy. Weather forecast called for rain. Don’t have a ride. Hate waiting in line. Don’t like the candidates. Vote won’t matter much because they’re all a bunch of bums, anyway.

And if you believe the forecasts of election experts, there are going to be a lot of those excuses circulating in conjunction with Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary election, even with two highly contested races for an open governor’s seat atop the Democratic and Republican ballots.

Secretary of State William Gardner is predicting roughly 168,000 voters – 102,000 Republicans and 66,000 Democrats – will cast ballots Tuesday, which would represent only about 21.4 percent of the state’s registered voters and fall pretty much in line with 2010.

Nashua City Clerk Paul Bergeron is even less optimistic: He expects voter turnout in his community to come in around 15 percent, meaning only 7,000 of the city’s 44,738 registered voters may bother to make their way to the polls.

So despite the traditional pleas from government officials, civic leaders and newspaper editorial writers, get ready to hear a lot of the same excuses from voters come Wednesday morning.

But there’s one in particular we don’t want to hear: I didn’t have a photo ID.

You don’t need one.

Yes, it’s true our Republican-controlled Legislature approved a photo ID bill this summer – making it one of 19 states to pass such legislation in the past two years – but that doesn’t mean you need one to vote Tuesday.

In fact, the only difference between Tuesday’s primary election and previous state elections is that voters will be asked to show a photo ID when they request a ballot. If they don’t have one, they merely will be informed about the new law and then be permitted to vote.

That process will become a bit more cumbersome when thousands more flock to the polls to vote in the Nov. 6 presidential election, but those without a photo ID will not be prohibited from voting in that election, either.

They will be required to fill out a “challenged voter affidavit” – stating under the penalty of perjury that they are who they say they – before they are handed a ballot to vote. Later, they will receive a letter from the secretary of state’s office seeking confirmation that they voted. Under the new law, failure to respond within 90 days triggers a state voter fraud investigation.

For the Nov. 6 general election, acceptable voter ID will include a driver’s license, military ID, passport, valid student ID card or any other photo ID “deemed legitimate by the supervisors of the checklist, the moderator, or the clerk.”

(The text of the new law and a one-page summary are available on the secretary of state’s website at http://sos.nh.gov/2012ElectionInfo.aspx).

While our editorial board consistently has challenged the need for such a law – widespread voter fraud is a Republican-concocted myth and states should be doing everything they can to encourage voter participation, not discourage it – we take some solace in that the final language is less restrictive than previous versions.

But remember: Voting in Tuesday’s state primary is no different than voting in any previous New Hampshire election – so voters who want to squander that right will need to come up with a better excuse.

Newsletter

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

Interests
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *