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Veto of SB 129

by: Kathy Sullivan 2

Mon Jun 27, 2011 at 16:13:03 PM EDT


( - promoted by William Tucker)

The goveror has vetoed voter ID bill.

Veto message here:

http://www.governor.nh.gov/med...  

Thank you, Governor Lynch, for standing up for the right to vote.  

Kathy Sullivan 2 :: Veto of SB 129
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Veto of SB 129 | 21 comments
Thank you Governor Lynch! (4.00 / 5)
Best news I've heard today.

You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.  (John Morley, 1838-1923)

The Union Leader Isn't Done Yet! (4.00 / 11)
The on-line headline on the Web site of our one and only statewide paper:

Lynch vetoes bill aimed at quelling voter fraud with photo ID requirement

Read the governor's excellent veto message and make sure your state senator and representatives understand why, as Gov. Lynch notes, "the New Hampshire City and Town Clerks Association, AARP, the League of Women Voters, and the Secretary of State have all opposed provisions of this bill."

This is terrible legislation that is an embarrassment to our state.  


I like how you frame this (4.00 / 2)
The print/electronic Loeb media arms dissemble to obfuscate the truth. It is we and only we who can put the corrective messaging out there by forwarding this diary to our pages, blogs, neighbors and friends, and thereby leverage the power of the 'tubes. This supposed voter fraud is itself a fraud. Voter suppression is the Speaker's goal, but we can't let him win, because as you put it, "This is terrible legislation that is an embarrassment to our state."  

note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other

[ Parent ]
Excellent! (4.00 / 1)
I am so thankful every day for Gov. Lynch.

Any read on the chances for an override?  I know a previous diary here indicated they may not have the votes.


SB 129 votes (4.00 / 1)
The Senate voted 18-6.

The House voted twice, 243-111, and 259-116.  

Given these numbers I cannot think how we are going to sustain the veto.

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. --Marcus Aurelius, courtesy of Paul Berch


[ Parent ]
We won't sustain (4.00 / 1)
but as always we'll put up a good fight for what is right.

You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.  (John Morley, 1838-1923)

[ Parent ]
What amazes me is the vote count. (4.00 / 2)
This bill, and the roll calls thereof, show one in no uncertain terms how dead and gone the "Yankee Republican" is.

This disenfranchising bill is anathema to the New Hampshire (both sides of the aisle) I know and love.

Who are these rulers in Concord, from what out-of-state playbook does their agenda come from and what did they do to this lovely place?

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker


[ Parent ]
5-0 trumps both. (4.00 / 2)
Requiring disproportionately elderly and disabled citizens, who are the least likely to possess photo ID and for whom a trip into town is the most difficult, to make two such trips within a short time window deliberately and unnecessarily creates a separate and less equal class of voters and imposes an unconstitutionally excessive and discriminatory restriction on their ability to exercise their absolute constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.

[ Parent ]
SB129 will raise your property taxes (4.00 / 2)
Please talk to your local town officials and Town Moderator about the costs for your town. We need people like local officials to contact Republican Senators and object to the new local costs if SB129 goes through.

Fifty percent of town clerks will have to add office hours for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after elections under SB129.  Towns will also have to educate their voters and hold training sessions for all their election workers. Both cities and towns will have to double the number of election workers for every election.

All these extras will have to be paid by the cities and towns because SB129 doesn't include any funding for local expenses.  


there is some hope for this veto (4.00 / 4)
There is some hope in the Senate: they voted 18-6 on their own version, but the governor vetoed the conference committee's product, which reflected David Bates's attempts to improve it.  The last vote was only 14-9, with the missing Senator being Lou d'Alessandro, who is opposed.  So the Senate might sustain the veto.


Tim's right, I should (4.00 / 2)
have looked at the concurrence votes and not just the initial votes.  

The four Republican Senators who refused to support the Committee of Conference report were Senators Forsythe, Gallus, Prescott and White.  They joined Senator Odell and all the Democrats in opposing the Committee of Conference Report.

I imagine they will be under significant pressure, so be sure, if you are in their districts, to thank them and urge them to stand firm.

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. --Marcus Aurelius, courtesy of Paul Berch


[ Parent ]
Further careless drafting... (4.00 / 1)
on my part.  As Tim said, Senator D'Allesandro did not vote on the C of C report, but did vote against the original bill.

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. --Marcus Aurelius, courtesy of Paul Berch

[ Parent ]
thanks, Lucy (4.00 / 2)
Senator Gallus has gotten several complimentary emails from me this session, which is unusual. As he knows very well, the City of Berlin cannot afford to shoulder the burden of this unnecessary additional cost.  

[ Parent ]
And the state constitution prohibits that: (4.00 / 5)
[Art.] 28-a. [Mandated Programs.] The state shall not mandate or assign any new, expanded or modified programs or responsibilities to any political subdivision in such a way as to necessitate additional local expenditures by the political subdivision unless such programs or responsibilities are fully funded by the state or unless such programs or responsibilities are approved for funding by a vote of the local legislative body of the political subdivision.

November 28, 1984

This crop of wingnuts may go to court arguing that a previous generation of right-wingers couldn't really clip their wings...


[ Parent ]
on NHPR's The Exchange Rep Serlin posted a must read comment on the Fraud allegation (4.00 / 6)
Read this, reread it and make sure you use it whenever you defend the Governor's veto of SB 129

State Rep Christopher Serlin - Thu, 05/19/2011 - 09:52

Sir:

Your claim:

"egregious fraud takes place in Durham, Keene and Plymouth at every major election and our Secretary of State's office has consistently ignored it."

is often cited almost verbatim by those supporting Voter ID, yet nobody - not one person - has ever been able to demonstrate that said fraud took place using anything other than hearsay or broad accusations of "mysterious people" coming into the polls. The AG and Sec State would vigorously explore and prosecute as required any such instances. However, they have not, because there is not. Same Day registration, or any voter registration, requires proof of citizenship already. So, Voter ID bills DO NOT offer any additional substance in terms of making sure voters are also citizens. They purport to make sure nobody who is ineligible to vote does so, but all they MAY do is address the issue of one claiming another voter's identity, as Rep Pierce has already said.

However, in order for that type of fraud to be occurring, each election you would have to have, both, numbers of individuals claiming to be someone else as they check in - AND - all those people whose votes were "taken" would also have to be absent from the day's voting activities, otherwise such fraud would be easily detected. As soon as one person showed up at the polls and found their name already checked off there would be a call to the AG office and Sec State. But guess what? That does not happen. So, again - why the call for Voter ID? Frankly it's to make it more difficult for certain constituencies to vote, because, in turn, they tend not to support the GOP.

In order to encumber a Constitutional Right, the State must demonstrate sufficient cause - that there is a specific harm that exists, that it is hurtful to the welfare of the citizens at large, and that the cost of the remedy (encumbering everyone's right to vote freely) is more than balanced by the remediation of the harm.

In the case of Voter ID laws, nobody has ever proved the harm exists, therefore as a matter of policy the State has no business encumbering everyone's right to vote freely.
(for the rest of the comment go to:
http://www.nhpr.org/voter-id-d... )


Interesting that the person (4.00 / 1)
asserting fraud by college-age voters would only choose locations associated with USNH - why not Manchester (St. A's, SNHU,etc.), Nashua, New London, Hanover, or even Rindge (FPU)? Odd, that.

They. Don't. Care.
We do.
Rinse, repeat.


[ Parent ]
They are working to price the university system (4.00 / 4)
out of reach for New Hampshire families - and for that matter, American families.

"Since only Chinese, Kuwaiti, and British royalty can afford to attend, shouldn't voter registrations in Durham, Plymouth and Keene get extra scrutiny?"


[ Parent ]
Governor John Lynch... (4.00 / 4)
...once again show's he's the governor who wants to protect rights.  Creating hoops and loops to be able to exercise our right to vote is anti-American.  Politicians should be ashamed trying to pass legislation to help themselves stay in office and it's clear that most of those voting for this bill expect it will discourage voters who might not be for them not to vote.  

Disgusting.  But even if it does become law, I think they'll find that in November 2012 this, and some of the other things they have done, will be reason for voters to show up and show them the door out.  


The New Hampshire Young Democrats are strongly against SB129 (4.00 / 3)
Governor Lynch has NHYD's sincerest thanks for vetoing it. In doing so, he is protecting the voting rights not just of young people and students, not just of the elderly and disabled, not just of the traditionally Democratic constituencies the bill targets--he is protecting all of our rights. We hope he continues to do so if this Republican legislature keeps moving forward with its various attempts to stop people from voting.

(Posted by Doug Lindner, Vice President of Public Affairs, NHYD)

--
Hope > Anarch-tea
Twitter: @DougLindner


A good reminder, Doug, (4.00 / 1)
that we are all in this together, and if we don't protect each other's rights as well as our own, we will all lose.  Vis unita fortier.

[ Parent ]
As an additional note, (4.00 / 2)
perhaps it is time to change the NH Motto back, from Live "Free" or Die to vis unita fortier.  Especially since after the Free State Project came to town we no longer know what "free" means.  

[ Parent ]
Veto of SB 129 | 21 comments

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