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Concord, N.H. - Today, New Hampshire's Republican House Speaker Shawn Jasper released information from a request he made of the Secretary of State's office for voter information. He selectively requested information about voters who registered with out-of-state licenses, an entirely legal and normal practice. Jasper's not-so-subtle implication is that these registrants are proof of out-of-state voters casting illegal votes in New Hampshire. They can easily be accounted for by college students and other new Granite Staters who deferred acquiring an in-state license or don't intend to drive in the state. Having an in-state license is not a prerequisite for being able to register to vote in New Hampshire. NHDP Chair Ray Buckley issued the following statement: "Speaker Jasper's inquiry is just a rephrasing of President Trump and Governor Sununu's debunked lie about voters being bused into New Hampshire to vote illegally. Voter fraud accusations are a time-honored New Hampshire Republican tradition, and a tactic they've been using to scare away voters for decades. Republican legislators are searching for data that affirms their 'belief' of voter fraud, which was the only basis for the vote suppression law SB 3 Governor Sununu signed into law this July. Republicans should have looked for proof before they passed a law to remedy a problem that doesn't exist, not afterward. These out of state licenses can easily be accounted for by college students who have every right to vote in the state. Our first step in retaining young people should be encouraging them to become civically engaged in our communities, not scaring them out of voting here. Republicans ignore these truths, instead using misinformation to suggest fraud despite there being no known credible cases in the state. It's despicable and Governor Sununu, who admitted in July that there is no fraud in New Hampshire, should say so again to dispel these baseless, wildly conspiratorial accusations."
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