ELECTION LAW REPUBLICANS BACK PERMISSION REQUIREMENT FOR ABSENTEE VOTING

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE – Today, the House Election Law Committee voted to kill HB 61 and HB 516, bills that would expand absentee voting rights in New Hampshire. Representative David E. Cote (D-Nashua), Ranking Democrat on the House Election Law Committee, released the following statement:

“Due to Covid-19, New Hampshire’s restrictive absentee balloting law was temporarily expanded last year to permit all eligible voters who desire to vote absentee. Granite Staters responded by turning out in record numbers, with over a quarter million voters (32%) choosing to vote by absentee ballot last November. As the Governor and Secretary of State have repeatedly stated, the 2020 election was conducted smoothly, efficiently, and securely.

Bills to permanently expand absentee ballot access received overwhelming public support at their hearings in the House. Unless one of these bills is passed, Granite Staters will once again have to receive permission to vote absentee. There is no reason to deny Granite Staters the same freedom that voters in other states have had for years, but that is exactly what Election Law Republicans recommended the legislature do today. The Republican electoral strategy has become clear – inconvenience as many voters into nonparticipation as possible.”

NEW HAMPSHIRE REPRESENTATIVES CALL ON US SENATE TO PASS EQUALITY ACT

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE – On Saturday, March 6th Representatives Gerri Cannon (D-Somersworth) and Lisa Bunker (D-Exeter) joined 5 other state legislators from across the country to condemn the Tuberville amendment and call on the US Senate to pass the Equality Act. Full letter is attached, and excerpts are below:

“If Amendment 1386 was adopted, Senator Tuberville would have potentially subjected girls – cisgender and transgender alike – to humiliating and traumatizing searches of their anatomy by adults in order to prove whether their reproductive systems were female enough for them to count as girls. This amendment was designed to force state and local educational organizations to discriminate against transgender students, requiring them to deliberately act in violation of federal civil rights laws. It would have also negated the successful systems in place in more than a dozen states that welcome all student athletes to participate in sports and learn the leadership, confidence and self-respect that comes from playing on a team. We should be promoting the examples set in states that have taken action to be more inclusive and welcoming, not regress toward exclusion.”

“As state legislators, we share a commitment to constituent service, working to better the lives of those we represent each day. Supporting equality is constituent service; this means protecting and welcoming all of our student constituents. We call on the U.S. Senate to swiftly bring the Equality Act to the Senate floor for a vote to pass this critical legislation. We urge our state colleagues to pass legislation that helps all of our constituents, including those who are LGBTQIA+, instead of attacking the very people we are all elected to serve.”

3-6-21 Tuberville Letter

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REPUBLICANS OK BILL RESTRICTING FREE SPEECH

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE – Today, Republicans on the House Executive Departments and Administration committee voted to support HB 544, a bill that would ban individuals, agencies including schools, and businesses contracted with the state from speaking on certain “divisive concepts” like race and sex. Committee member Rep. Jean Jeudy (D-Manchester) released the following statement:

“The Republican attack on our education system has extended to a suppression of free speech through legislation popping up across the country like HB 544 in House Executive Departments and Administration today. Legislation like this is a direct result of the former Trump Administration’s assault on underrepresented peoples in our democratic process under the guise that acknowledging areas where humanity can improve is “un-American,” when we know that accountability, grace, love, and understanding should be the foundations of the American experience. Any inappropriate teaching of “divisive concepts” that this bill references does not exist in New Hampshire; however, the existence of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia does exist in the Granite State. New Hampshire’s large population is full of diversity, including people like me. This bill, apart from being unconstitutional, would detract not contribute to healing our divides and I strongly oppose it. We cannot shy away, or worse, ban as this bill intends, talking about the real experiences of our friends and neighbors.”

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