A newly released report from the New Hampshire Secretary of State and Department of Safety says a majority of people who used out-of-state IDs to register in last November’s elections haven’t registered vehicles in New Hampshire or gotten in-state drivers licenses in the months since. While this data alone doesn’t provide proof of voter fraud, as NHPR has noted before, it’s quickly become fodder in an ongoing debate about New Hampshire’s voting requirements. The data came in response to a request from House Speaker Shawn Jasper, who said he was seeking the statistics in part to inform future voting law changes. Among other things, Jasper asked for information on whether those who register to vote in New Hampshire also obtain driver’s licenses or car registrations here.
After comparing voter registrations from the November 2016 election to DMV records, the state agencies said about 81 percent of the roughly 6,500 people who registered using out-of-state IDs last year have done neither. New Hampshire law allows people to register to vote using out-of-state IDs, provided they fulfill other state voting requirements or sign an affidavit affirming their eligibility.
The number of voters in the data amounts to less than one percent of the overall electorate. But given that Democrats won several top races last year along thin margins — Maggie Hassan defeated Kelly Ayotte in the U.S. Senate race by 1,017 votes, while Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump here by 2,736 votes — Republicans were quick to point to the report as evidence that out-of-state voters illegitimately swayed the election.
Full Article: Data on Out-of-State IDs Fuels Cries of ‘Fraud’ in 2016 Election | New Hampshire Public Radio.