Town and city clerks should have an easier time complying with the state’s new Voter ID law after Gov. John Lynch let Senate Bill 1354 become law Friday without his signature. The new law requires voters to present a valid photo ID to vote at the polls or be photographed and sign an affidavit saying they are who they say they are. The bill lets election officials use an existing form called a challenged voter affidavit instead of a new form to be called a qualified voter affidavit in an earlier version of the law. “The challenged form is something we’re familiar with; we’ve been using it a long time,” Nashua City Clerk Paul Bergeron said Friday. “I think it’s just a small way of helping to simply the implementation of the new process,” he said.
Lynch vetoed the first version of the Voter ID law, and the House and Senate overrode the veto. The change to allow voting officials to use the familiar form came June 27 as the veto was overturned. “It’s disappointing the governor didn’t have the wisdom to sign this good bill into law,” House Speaker William O’Brien said in a statement. “He said he had issues with voter ID, we fixed them, and he still chose not to show his support,” O’Brien said. But Lynch also said in a statement, “New Hampshire has a history of clean elections and high voter participation.”
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