I am grateful for the hard work and dedication of the Select Committee on 2020 Emergency Election Support. The Committee’s Final Report is the product of many hours of listening to the concerns of Granite Staters, including election officials. Secretary Gardner’s cover memo publishing the report does not mention how he plans to handle some key recommendations in his implementation plan.

One of the Select Committee’s recommendations that I hope Secretary of State Gardner will adopt is prepaid return postage for all absentee ballots. The Select Committee recommends an initial informational mailing to all NH households, ideally with the absentee ballot request form and access to clear instructions about voting and registering to vote absentee. Neither the instructions nor the forms are clearly written on the Secretary of State’s website. A communications expert should be consulted to clarify the website and the documents/forms. The funds for these changes are in-hand already from CARES Act and Help America Vote Act.

Absentee voting should be encouraged as the safest way to vote during COVID-19 times. Putting prepaid postage on the envelope to return the absentee ballot keeps voters safe at home if they fear voting in person due to the virus. Voters will not have to choose between voting safely and risking infection with Covid-19. Absentee voting should be encouraged as much as possible in 2020. That means making it easy to vote absentee and making it safe so no one who wants to vote is disenfranchised due to safety/health concerns.

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