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Pappas hosts virtual voting roundtable

By Staff | Jun 14, 2020

Democrat Chris Pappas celebrates winning the New Hampshire U.S. House District One Congressional race at an election party in Manchester, N.H. Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/ Cheryl Senter)

Manchester, NH – Today Representative Chris Pappas (NH-01) held a virtual roundtable to discuss voting rights and what voting in New Hampshire will look like this fall due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Pappas was joined by Brad Cook, Chairman of 2020 Emergency Election Support Committee; State Senator Tom Sherman, Election Law & Municipal Affairs Committee Vice Chair and 2020 Emergency Election Support Committee Member; Matt Normand, City Clerk for the City of Manchester; and Kate Hanna, 2020 Emergency Election Support Committee Member.

“People around New Hampshire are really concerned about what the future holds for us in September and November,” said Congressman Chris Pappas. “We need to make sure that everyone is able to safely cast their ballot in the September primary and the November general election; and I’ll continue to fight for funding because we know that’s a critical issue already. We need to get funds to our state and local governments to make sure services aren’t disrupted; and also to address the increased costs of many services, including running elections, as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.”

“One of our findings was the safest way to vote this year is to vote absentee… so the increased number of absentee ballots and the processing of them was one of our recommendations,” said Chairman of 2020 Emergency Election Support Committee Brad Cook. “The last line of the report says, the future of the country and the world could be changed if we don’t get this right… This is serious business and we got to get it right.”

“The fundamental driver of all of the work we’re doing is that in New Hampshire we absolutely pride ourselves on secure, robust turnout.” said State Senator and 2020 Emergency Election Support Committee Member Tom Sherman. “Making sure the poll workers feel safe, and are safe, both leading up to Election Day in processing absentee materials but also on Election Day interacting directly with the voters is paramount… We want the same robust turnout, we just want it done safely.”

Earlier this week, the New Hampshire Select Committee on 2020 Emergency Election Support released their final report with recommendations for how the state should prepare to conduct elections this fall. The committee was convened in April to make recommendations to the Secretary of State on how to spend federal funds allocated to the state in the CARES Act for elections.

New Hampshire received $3.2 million in election funding from the CARES Act. This funding can be used to expand the ability to vote by mail, expand early voting and online registration, and increase the safety of voting in-person by providing additional voting facilities and more poll-workers.

The Heroes Act would provide more than $3.6 billion in grants to states for contingency planning, preparation, and resilience of elections for Federal office. New Hampshire would receive nearly $30 million more in funding that would go directly to local election officials so they have the resources needed to run safe, accessible, and secure elections this fall.

This roundtable continues Pappas’s efforts to speak directly with leaders responding to this crisis including health care advocates and providers, small businesses, non-profits, veterans, and local government officials.

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