In another significant accomplishment for the Republican-controlled Legislature, the Senate and House on Wednesday passed a law requiring people to present photo identification when voting, while adopting a last-minute amendment meant to ease concerns expressed by voting officials ahead of the November elections. The Senate voted 18-5 to override the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 289, which will require voters this November to show a photo ID or sign an affidavit. The House passed the bill 231-112. Both votes exceeded the two-thirds margin necessary for a veto override. The last-minute change concerned the kind of affidavit required of voters who do not have acceptable identification in this year’s elections. The Senate voted to reintroduce a bill it had tabled earlier in the session, House Bill 1354, and amend it to change all references to a “qualified voter affidavit” in SB 289 to “challenged voter affidavit.”
The challenged voter document asks a voter to attest to their name, residence and eligibility to vote; whereas the qualified voter form is the same people must submit when they register to vote and requires them to give their place and date of birth or naturalization. Town moderators are unfamiliar with the form and a change so close to the election could create problems at the polls, according to the bill’s chief Senate sponsor, Sen. Russell Prescott, R-Kingston. “This amendment is needed to correct an oversight on my part,” Prescott said on the floor of the Senate. “I visited with members of the town and city clerks association, and they had the same situation occur, as did the Secretary of State’s Office.”
Full Article: Legislature overrides Lynch veto on voter ID | New Hampshire NEWS06.