June 9, 2026 • 16 mins
Previously, on New Hampshire Has Issues...McKenzie told us about voting in New Hampshire.
Today, she has some important updates! And it turns out, New Hampshire changes its election laws with some frequency...I wonder why?
Remember: you are eligible to vote in New Hampshire if (1) you are a US citizen, (2) you will be 18 years or older on or before Election Day, and (3) New Hampshire is your home. You can register on Election Day - or before!
Become a monthly supporter of this show (patreon.com/nhhasissues)
Subscribe to the new NH Has Issues Substack
Links:
- Voting in New Hampshire (NH Campaign for Voting Rights)
- Find your town/city clerk's information (NH Secretary of State)
- Ayotte signs bill barring use of student IDs to vote (NH Bulletin)
- Ahead of midterms, federal court strikes down NH proof-of-citizenship voter registration law (NH Bulletin)
- A judge struck down NH’s ‘proof of citizenship’ voting law. Here's what to know. (NHPR)
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New Hampshire Has Issues is generously sponsored by Seacoast Soils, an organic compost and topsoil provider forNew Hampshire, Maine, and Northeast Massachusetts. Visit their website at www.seacoastsoil.com!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Liz Canada (00:00):
Do you have a tagline that you really wanted
to jump in with?
No, nothing will beat my firstone.
I know it was such a good one.
It's on the mug.
You made it to the merch, butnow it's not accurate.
So you have to like get asticker to cover it.
Do you have your birthcertificate?
Just in general.
No.
Okay.
McKenzie Taylor (00:15):
Well, you can still have it?
No?
That's good.
I'll you're fine.
Liz Canada (00:18):
You can still register.
Good news.
You're listening to NewHampshire Has Issues.
And I am your host, Liz Canada.
This mini sode is the update tothe voting episode from last
(00:39):
summer.
McKenzie Taylor is back.
She has updates for us in termsof the recent court decision,
which was a good thing fordemocracy.
She's also here with updates onwhat has changed that is not so
good because of the statelegislature and the governor's
actions.
A quick recap.
The requirements to vote in NewHampshire are number one, you
(01:03):
must be a U.S.
citizen.
Number two, you must be 18years or older, on or before
Election Day.
And number three, New Hampshireis your home.
I'm going to make an assumptionthat you, as a listener, uh are
already registered to vote inNew Hampshire.
But I'm also going to guessthat you know someone who isn't.
So here's what you're going todo.
You're going to listen to thisepisode from beginning to end,
(01:24):
of course.
And then you're going to set adate to help that friend get
registered this summer.
You're going to make sure thatthey know what they need to
bring with them.
And you're going to go withthem to their town or city
clerk's office to register.
And then you're going to gotreat yourself to like an ice
cream.
Because this really matters,and your friend needs you.
(01:45):
Yes, you can register on theday of the election.
But also, don't you want tohang out with your friend and go
have a nice day?
Uh if you like this podcast andyou think more people should
have this information, you thinkit's important, and you have
the ability, you can become amonthly supporter of this little
podcast at patreon.com slash nhhas issues.
(02:08):
The link to that is in theepisode description, and there
are always a lot of links in theepisode description.
Alright, I'm gonna hand it backover to McKenzie and me.
Thank you for listening.
Welcome back, McKenzie Taylor.
So my guest today, McKenzieTaylor.
She is the America Votes NewHampshire State Director.
You were here chatting with menot so long ago, but uh about a
(02:33):
bit ago.
A little bit ago.
About voting rights.
And we have some updates, itsounds like, and I'm excited to
hear from you.
So welcome back, McKenzie.
Thank you, Liz.
Excited to be here and excitedto be here with some good news
for voting rights in NewHampshire for what?
Some good news on the pod.
Who knew it was possible toeven happen?
Very occasionally, if we'relucky.
(02:53):
So there was just a major courtdecision a few weeks ago, about
two weeks ago, about ourelection laws in New Hampshire,
ones that you talked about whenwe were uh recording our first
episode together.
So, McKenzie, tell me whathappened and what does it mean?
McKenzie Taylor (03:08):
Yes.
So we talked about the lasttime I was on the show, House
Bill 1569, that required folksto bring documentary proof of
citizenship, so their passport,birth certificate,
naturalization papers with themin order to register to vote.
There was a lawsuit,litigation, um, and a that was
two-week trial in February onthis bill.
(03:28):
And the ruling came out, andthat documentary proof of
citizenship part of the law wasoverturned.
And the most important part ofthis that folks should know is
that now, if you don't have thatphysical proof of citizenship
either at all in your life oryou don't have it with you when
you go to register to vote, youwill be able to prove your
citizenship by signing anaffidavit, just like it was
(03:52):
prior to this bill, uh, to beable to show that you are a US
citizen without bringing thosedocuments with you.
The court said, you know, thatburden of having those documents
is just too high.
And especially, you know, theythey looked really closely at
the number of people who hadbeen turned away when this law
was in effect, which showed, youknow, these documents are not
(04:13):
available to folks.
They don't have them with them.
And it really was votersuppression.
Liz Canada (04:17):
Ooh, what we uh thought might be the case turned
out to be It was the case.
Wow.
Really big plot twist there.
No longer need documentaryproof of citizenship.
Obviously, you still need to bea citizen to vote, but the
documentary proof of citizenshipis not required because of this
court decision.
They said it was a burden,unconstitutional, and they
(04:40):
overturned it.
So we did it, McKenzie, right?
Like everything is fixed withvoting in New Hampshire.
Is that what I'm hearing?
I wish.
Hashtag we did it.
McKenzie Taylor (04:49):
We're done.
Yeah.
No, we're we are not done.
And I think it's reallyimportant to know that the this
part of the law, the documentaryproof of citizenship part, was
overturned, but the otherchanges, some of the other
changes in the law remain.
So prior to House Will 1569passing originally, if you
didn't have, for example, yourproof of domicile, your address
(05:11):
where you lived, you could signan affidavit for that too.
That is not the case anymore.
Liz Canada (05:16):
Affidavit, it's like you would get in trouble if you
were not recording the truth bysigning it.
McKenzie Taylor (05:21):
Yes.
Very serious penalties.
Those used to be availablebefore this bill passed, and
that is not available anymore.
So the important thing to knownow is if you're going to
register to vote, you still needproof of identity.
This also changed thislegislative session a little bit
because we can't go a sessionwithout making it a little bit
(05:42):
harder to vote.
Oh boy.
Student IDs used to be a wayyou could show your identity.
Now those don't count any more.
For college students.
For college students.
It has to be a government ID.
So that is a license could befrom any state as long as it's,
you know, you, your photo, notexpired in most cases.
If you're older, there's likesome some flexibility there.
(06:03):
A passport works for this aswell, you know, your name,
photo, uh, a military ID or alike a non-driver's ID, but it
has to be that government ID.
Can't use your U and H or orDartmouth ID anymore.
So you need to have that proofof identity.
Again, who you are, your name,your photo, your age.
So in most of those cases, likeyour license, if you have one,
(06:26):
is gonna have your birthday.
So easy, same document anddomicile.
So your address.
Again, for some people, likeright now, my address and my
license is the same as where Ilive and register to vote.
So if that's the case for you,you just need to make sure you
have your license with all thatinformation when you register.
If your address is not accurateon your license, because it
(06:48):
really is a pain to change it.
You gotta like get a new one,you get the paper one that no
one accepts for a while.
So if you've changed youraddress, you've moved, you, for
example, changed on your carregistration, but not on your
license, you'll have to bringthat additional document as
well.
Uh, so that could be, you know,again, a government check is uh
is one of the ways you can dothat, a car registration, a
(07:09):
license.
If you don't have those things,um, a lease agreement for
college students who live oncampus, um, the colleges can
have like a portal that haslike, you know, this is your
name and this is your officialcampus address, which makes it,
you know, accessible.
However, in the past, if youwere like, oh, I forgot it, it
would be okay.
People do need to bring that toregister.
(07:31):
And if they don't have thatwith them, they're not going to
be able to.
Liz Canada (07:33):
So if I'm a if I'm much younger than I am now, if I
were in college and I neededthat information from my portal,
do I need to print it?
Or does like showing it on mylike on my phone work?
McKenzie Taylor (07:46):
Be able to show it right on your phone.
We never trust the internetaccess in the polling places.
It is a little bit spotty.
So get a screenshot of thatinfo.
And um, especially this isreally common for you know
college students, be able toshow that, show that address um
in addition to your proof ofidentity and age.
Liz Canada (08:04):
So driver's license needs to not have been expired
for most people, probably is thecase.
But that'll show your identitybecause it has your photo, it
has your age, because it'll haveyour birth date, obviously.
If you are living where theaddress is on your driver's
license, that deals withdomicile.
If not, things like a carregistration, uh a lease
(08:28):
agreement if you're a renter,your mortgage statement, if
you're, you know, if you'vepurchased your house, if you're
a student, something in yourcollege portal will show that
your domicile is at thatcollege.
Okay.
That's still a lot of stuffthat you might need to bring.
It is.
McKenzie Taylor (08:45):
Let me check actually the expiration date law
because I just want to makesure.
Liz Canada (08:49):
Listeners, we are triple checking our work because
this is really important.
We want to make sure that youhave the most accurate
information because it would beextremely painful if you
listened to this episode and youwere like, well, Liz McKenzie
told me that I only needed XYZ.
And I was wrong.
Important.
McKenzie Taylor (09:06):
Okay, on the expiration dates.
This is why even the law ischanging so much and is so
complicated that you do thisevery day and need to check.
Photo ID has to be not expiredby more than five years.
So if it expired like lastmonth, last year, you are okay.
If you are over 65, you can useit even if it doesn't have, you
(09:27):
know, it's expired for longer.
So someone is over 65, youknow, they're not driving
anymore.
So they have an old ID, butthey haven't, you know, renewed
it.
That is still gonna work forthose folks.
Liz Canada (09:38):
Great.
McKenzie Taylor (09:38):
Important clarifications.
Liz Canada (09:40):
Important clarifications.
We check our work so that youhave the most accurate
information.
We want you to know what youneed to register to vote.
And it's ever changing.
It is ever changing.
When you were last on the show,college students could bring a
student ID.
That is no longer the case.
But if they have moved to NewHampshire from another state and
(10:00):
their driver's license is fromthat other state, that would
work for some of the pieces thatthey need to register to vote.
As long as it's not expiredfive years ago.
Exactly.
McKenzie Taylor (10:08):
Because we know, you know, students move
and then they don't have theircar.
Like they're not driving often,right?
Liz Canada (10:14):
So right now, McKenzie, we are in the middle
of filing period.
This is the moment where peopleare filing to run for governor,
executive council, statesenate, state rep.
They're doing that between nowand June 12th, which is very
exciting.
All the things.
Getting our candidates.
(10:34):
It's happening.
If you're on social media andyou have any like political
algorithm in your world, you areseeing people announce that
they are running or they are notrunning for this election.
For the New Hampshire stateprimary, which is on September
8th.
If a listener wants to registerto vote to be able to
(10:55):
participate in that election, orfor the general election,
November 3rd, what do they needto know?
Because some listeners mightneed to register, but probably
might want to help someone inNew Hampshire register to vote.
What do they need to know?
Absolutely.
McKenzie Taylor (11:13):
So we do have election day registration, same
day registration.
So people, if you wait up untilthe day of, you can register to
vote again, as long as youbring those things with you.
However, you can also registerearly, earlier than that, at
your town or city clerk'soffice.
So you got a long summer ahead,maybe have a day off during the
(11:33):
week, and want to eitherregister or help someone that
you know go and register to voteat the clerk's office.
The line is gonna be probablyshorter than it would be on
election day, save a little bitof time.
Um, you can go and do that andregister to vote at that town or
city clerk's office up todepends on the town, six to 13
days ahead of the election.
(11:55):
And again, folks will need tobring their ID with them,
whatever form of government IDthey're gonna use, and that
proof of address and proof ofage, which all you know could be
on your license or might be acouple of documents.
And then you'll be registered.
And when you go to vote in theprimary and in November, uh, you
won't have to wait in thatregistration line.
You can go and it is requirednow, other part of the law, you
(12:19):
do need to show a photo ID, agovernment ID again to get your
ballot.
So if you register early oryou're already registered,
awesome.
When you go to the polls onelection day, you're gonna be
asked to show that governmentID, proves who you say you are,
um, and then you'll be givenyour ballot.
If you don't have that ID withyou, again, like if you go to
the polls and you forget it inthe car, you are not gonna be
(12:39):
able to cast a ballot withoutshowing that government ID to
the poll workers.
So uh that is the otherimportant thing to remember that
is different than previousyears and is really critical to
think about uh ahead of electionday.
Liz Canada (12:54):
You can go to your town or city clerk earlier.
The clerk will be so happy tosee you.
It's like, oh my goodness,you're here to register to vote.
Usually people are waitinguntil the day of.
You can do your work inadvance, and then on election
day, you still need to bring anID.
Yes.
That is now the law in NewHampshire.
You must show an ID.
So don't forget that it's greatthat you registered in advance
(13:15):
and you'll still need to bringthat with you.
If you're driving, I hope youhave your driver's license on
you as you drive to the polls.
So just bring that inside withyou.
Absolutely.
Bring a friend to your townclerk or city clerk, to their
town clerk or city clerk.
Make it a day trip.
I mean, go to lunch.
Make it a day trip, then go tothe beach, go for a hike, get
some ice cream, treat yourselfafter you register to vote.
Go get some ice creamafterwards.
(13:36):
It's summer in New Hampshire.
It's all the best things andregistering to vote early.
We love to see it.
All right, so I have one morequestion because I don't think
we talked about this in thefirst episode.
So as we think about like allthese election laws and things
are changing when it comes toNew Hampshire elections and, you
know, guidance on what to bringor what is allowed, the person
(13:56):
who is like in charge of NewHampshire elections is the
Secretary of State.
How does the Secretary of Stateget that job?
Because I just mentioned all ofthese other offices where
people are filing to becandidates.
How does the Secretary of Stateget that job?
McKenzie Taylor (14:13):
It's an excellent question.
So in a lot of other states,the voters like vote for the
Secretary of State on the sameballot as they vote for
governor, all these otheroffices.
In New Hampshire, because weare so special, our legislature,
so all 400 state reps and 24state senators, 424 people, vote
on the Secretary of State thesame day they are sworn in in
(14:36):
early December.
Big job for the first day.
I know, big decision, first dayon the job.
You don't have a say, you know,on the ballot directly, but
your legislators do.
So that is the process by whichthe Secretary of State is
chosen every two years.
And it has to be, they have toget a majority of the vote.
It's done uh on a secretballot.
(14:56):
I think just little pieces ofpaper that get counted.
Liz Canada (14:59):
Oh my God.
McKenzie Taylor (14:59):
And that's how we choose our Secretary of
State.
So it is good to know that, youknow, although you are not
voting for them, the folks whorepresent you are taking that
vote the same day they're swornin.
Liz Canada (15:08):
Is that the only position in New Hampshire that's
like that?
Because you have like thedepartment heads in, you know,
state government that go throughthe governor and executive
council.
We have our candidates who wevote for on the ballot.
I don't know if there'sanything else that's sort of
like in that unique position,actually.
McKenzie Taylor (15:24):
Not in that same way.
The there's a couple of folksthat are like relevant to the
state house.
So like the sergeant at arms, Ithink, gets the same voting
process.
And sure.
The house clerk, why I can'tthink of also gets the same
process in terms of voting.
Liz Canada (15:39):
That feels fairly internal to their work, right?
And the Secretary of State isso much broader, like impacts so
much of what's happening in NewHampshire.
Very unique situation there.
McKenzie Taylor (15:50):
Not even just voting.
You know, Secretary of Statealso oversees like the lobbying
reports and all of that work.
A ton of business pieces are atSecretary of State's office.
So it's a really big job.
If you didn't, if you didn'tknow how that person uh gets
into office, that's the process.
Liz Canada (16:06):
The 424 legislators, they make that call.
All right, McKenzie.
Thank you.
Great mini sode.
Get up to date and hopefully uhfolks have the information they
need.
And I imagine you might comeback if anything changes in the
future.
Of course.
Thanks, Liz.
Thanks, McKenzie.
New Hampshire has Issues isgenerously sponsored by Seacoast
(16:30):
Soils, an organic compost andtopsoil provider for New
Hampshire, Maine, and NortheastPassachus.
Visit their website atwww.seaccoastsoil.com.
Do you have a tagline that you really wanted
to jump in with?
No, nothing will beat my firstone.
I know it was such a good one.
It's on the mug.
You made it to the merch, butnow it's not accurate.
So you have to like get asticker to cover it.
Do you have your birthcertificate?
Just in general.
No.
Okay.
McKenzie Taylor (00:15):
Well, you can still have it?
No?
That's good.
I'll you're fine.
Liz Canada (00:18):
You can still register.
Good news.
You're listening to NewHampshire Has Issues.
And I am your host, Liz Canada.
This mini sode is the update tothe voting episode from last
(00:39):
summer.
McKenzie Taylor is back.
She has updates for us in termsof the recent court decision,
which was a good thing fordemocracy.
She's also here with updates onwhat has changed that is not so
good because of the statelegislature and the governor's
actions.
A quick recap.
The requirements to vote in NewHampshire are number one, you
(01:03):
must be a U.S.
citizen.
Number two, you must be 18years or older, on or before
Election Day.
And number three, New Hampshireis your home.
I'm going to make an assumptionthat you, as a listener, uh are
already registered to vote inNew Hampshire.
But I'm also going to guessthat you know someone who isn't.
So here's what you're going todo.
You're going to listen to thisepisode from beginning to end,
(01:24):
of course.
And then you're going to set adate to help that friend get
registered this summer.
You're going to make sure thatthey know what they need to
bring with them.
And you're going to go withthem to their town or city
clerk's office to register.
And then you're going to gotreat yourself to like an ice
cream.
Because this really matters,and your friend needs you.
(01:45):
Yes, you can register on theday of the election.
But also, don't you want tohang out with your friend and go
have a nice day?
Uh if you like this podcast andyou think more people should
have this information, you thinkit's important, and you have
the ability, you can become amonthly supporter of this little
podcast at patreon.com slash nhhas issues.
(02:08):
The link to that is in theepisode description, and there
are always a lot of links in theepisode description.
Alright, I'm gonna hand it backover to McKenzie and me.
Thank you for listening.
Welcome back, McKenzie Taylor.
So my guest today, McKenzieTaylor.
She is the America Votes NewHampshire State Director.
You were here chatting with menot so long ago, but uh about a
(02:33):
bit ago.
A little bit ago.
About voting rights.
And we have some updates, itsounds like, and I'm excited to
hear from you.
So welcome back, McKenzie.
Thank you, Liz.
Excited to be here and excitedto be here with some good news
for voting rights in NewHampshire for what?
Some good news on the pod.
Who knew it was possible toeven happen?
Very occasionally, if we'relucky.
(02:53):
So there was just a major courtdecision a few weeks ago, about
two weeks ago, about ourelection laws in New Hampshire,
ones that you talked about whenwe were uh recording our first
episode together.
So, McKenzie, tell me whathappened and what does it mean?
McKenzie Taylor (03:08):
Yes.
So we talked about the lasttime I was on the show, House
Bill 1569, that required folksto bring documentary proof of
citizenship, so their passport,birth certificate,
naturalization papers with themin order to register to vote.
There was a lawsuit,litigation, um, and a that was
two-week trial in February onthis bill.
(03:28):
And the ruling came out, andthat documentary proof of
citizenship part of the law wasoverturned.
And the most important part ofthis that folks should know is
that now, if you don't have thatphysical proof of citizenship
either at all in your life oryou don't have it with you when
you go to register to vote, youwill be able to prove your
citizenship by signing anaffidavit, just like it was
(03:52):
prior to this bill, uh, to beable to show that you are a US
citizen without bringing thosedocuments with you.
The court said, you know, thatburden of having those documents
is just too high.
And especially, you know, theythey looked really closely at
the number of people who hadbeen turned away when this law
was in effect, which showed, youknow, these documents are not
(04:13):
available to folks.
They don't have them with them.
And it really was votersuppression.
Liz Canada (04:17):
Ooh, what we uh thought might be the case turned
out to be It was the case.
Wow.
Really big plot twist there.
No longer need documentaryproof of citizenship.
Obviously, you still need to bea citizen to vote, but the
documentary proof of citizenshipis not required because of this
court decision.
They said it was a burden,unconstitutional, and they
(04:40):
overturned it.
So we did it, McKenzie, right?
Like everything is fixed withvoting in New Hampshire.
Is that what I'm hearing?
I wish.
Hashtag we did it.
McKenzie Taylor (04:49):
We're done.
Yeah.
No, we're we are not done.
And I think it's reallyimportant to know that the this
part of the law, the documentaryproof of citizenship part, was
overturned, but the otherchanges, some of the other
changes in the law remain.
So prior to House Will 1569passing originally, if you
didn't have, for example, yourproof of domicile, your address
(05:11):
where you lived, you could signan affidavit for that too.
That is not the case anymore.
Liz Canada (05:16):
Affidavit, it's like you would get in trouble if you
were not recording the truth bysigning it.
McKenzie Taylor (05:21):
Yes.
Very serious penalties.
Those used to be availablebefore this bill passed, and
that is not available anymore.
So the important thing to knownow is if you're going to
register to vote, you still needproof of identity.
This also changed thislegislative session a little bit
because we can't go a sessionwithout making it a little bit
(05:42):
harder to vote.
Oh boy.
Student IDs used to be a wayyou could show your identity.
Now those don't count any more.
For college students.
For college students.
It has to be a government ID.
So that is a license could befrom any state as long as it's,
you know, you, your photo, notexpired in most cases.
If you're older, there's likesome some flexibility there.
(06:03):
A passport works for this aswell, you know, your name,
photo, uh, a military ID or alike a non-driver's ID, but it
has to be that government ID.
Can't use your U and H or orDartmouth ID anymore.
So you need to have that proofof identity.
Again, who you are, your name,your photo, your age.
So in most of those cases, likeyour license, if you have one,
(06:26):
is gonna have your birthday.
So easy, same document anddomicile.
So your address.
Again, for some people, likeright now, my address and my
license is the same as where Ilive and register to vote.
So if that's the case for you,you just need to make sure you
have your license with all thatinformation when you register.
If your address is not accurateon your license, because it
(06:48):
really is a pain to change it.
You gotta like get a new one,you get the paper one that no
one accepts for a while.
So if you've changed youraddress, you've moved, you, for
example, changed on your carregistration, but not on your
license, you'll have to bringthat additional document as
well.
Uh, so that could be, you know,again, a government check is uh
is one of the ways you can dothat, a car registration, a
(07:09):
license.
If you don't have those things,um, a lease agreement for
college students who live oncampus, um, the colleges can
have like a portal that haslike, you know, this is your
name and this is your officialcampus address, which makes it,
you know, accessible.
However, in the past, if youwere like, oh, I forgot it, it
would be okay.
People do need to bring that toregister.
(07:31):
And if they don't have thatwith them, they're not going to
be able to.
Liz Canada (07:33):
So if I'm a if I'm much younger than I am now, if I
were in college and I neededthat information from my portal,
do I need to print it?
Or does like showing it on mylike on my phone work?
McKenzie Taylor (07:46):
Be able to show it right on your phone.
We never trust the internetaccess in the polling places.
It is a little bit spotty.
So get a screenshot of thatinfo.
And um, especially this isreally common for you know
college students, be able toshow that, show that address um
in addition to your proof ofidentity and age.
Liz Canada (08:04):
So driver's license needs to not have been expired
for most people, probably is thecase.
But that'll show your identitybecause it has your photo, it
has your age, because it'll haveyour birth date, obviously.
If you are living where theaddress is on your driver's
license, that deals withdomicile.
If not, things like a carregistration, uh a lease
(08:28):
agreement if you're a renter,your mortgage statement, if
you're, you know, if you'vepurchased your house, if you're
a student, something in yourcollege portal will show that
your domicile is at thatcollege.
Okay.
That's still a lot of stuffthat you might need to bring.
It is.
McKenzie Taylor (08:45):
Let me check actually the expiration date law
because I just want to makesure.
Liz Canada (08:49):
Listeners, we are triple checking our work because
this is really important.
We want to make sure that youhave the most accurate
information because it would beextremely painful if you
listened to this episode and youwere like, well, Liz McKenzie
told me that I only needed XYZ.
And I was wrong.
Important.
McKenzie Taylor (09:06):
Okay, on the expiration dates.
This is why even the law ischanging so much and is so
complicated that you do thisevery day and need to check.
Photo ID has to be not expiredby more than five years.
So if it expired like lastmonth, last year, you are okay.
If you are over 65, you can useit even if it doesn't have, you
(09:27):
know, it's expired for longer.
So someone is over 65, youknow, they're not driving
anymore.
So they have an old ID, butthey haven't, you know, renewed
it.
That is still gonna work forthose folks.
Liz Canada (09:38):
Great.
McKenzie Taylor (09:38):
Important clarifications.
Liz Canada (09:40):
Important clarifications.
We check our work so that youhave the most accurate
information.
We want you to know what youneed to register to vote.
And it's ever changing.
It is ever changing.
When you were last on the show,college students could bring a
student ID.
That is no longer the case.
But if they have moved to NewHampshire from another state and
(10:00):
their driver's license is fromthat other state, that would
work for some of the pieces thatthey need to register to vote.
As long as it's not expiredfive years ago.
Exactly.
McKenzie Taylor (10:08):
Because we know, you know, students move
and then they don't have theircar.
Like they're not driving often,right?
Liz Canada (10:14):
So right now, McKenzie, we are in the middle
of filing period.
This is the moment where peopleare filing to run for governor,
executive council, statesenate, state rep.
They're doing that between nowand June 12th, which is very
exciting.
All the things.
Getting our candidates.
(10:34):
It's happening.
If you're on social media andyou have any like political
algorithm in your world, you areseeing people announce that
they are running or they are notrunning for this election.
For the New Hampshire stateprimary, which is on September
8th.
If a listener wants to registerto vote to be able to
(10:55):
participate in that election, orfor the general election,
November 3rd, what do they needto know?
Because some listeners mightneed to register, but probably
might want to help someone inNew Hampshire register to vote.
What do they need to know?
Absolutely.
McKenzie Taylor (11:13):
So we do have election day registration, same
day registration.
So people, if you wait up untilthe day of, you can register to
vote again, as long as youbring those things with you.
However, you can also registerearly, earlier than that, at
your town or city clerk'soffice.
So you got a long summer ahead,maybe have a day off during the
(11:33):
week, and want to eitherregister or help someone that
you know go and register to voteat the clerk's office.
The line is gonna be probablyshorter than it would be on
election day, save a little bitof time.
Um, you can go and do that andregister to vote at that town or
city clerk's office up todepends on the town, six to 13
days ahead of the election.
(11:55):
And again, folks will need tobring their ID with them,
whatever form of government IDthey're gonna use, and that
proof of address and proof ofage, which all you know could be
on your license or might be acouple of documents.
And then you'll be registered.
And when you go to vote in theprimary and in November, uh, you
won't have to wait in thatregistration line.
You can go and it is requirednow, other part of the law, you
(12:19):
do need to show a photo ID, agovernment ID again to get your
ballot.
So if you register early oryou're already registered,
awesome.
When you go to the polls onelection day, you're gonna be
asked to show that governmentID, proves who you say you are,
um, and then you'll be givenyour ballot.
If you don't have that ID withyou, again, like if you go to
the polls and you forget it inthe car, you are not gonna be
(12:39):
able to cast a ballot withoutshowing that government ID to
the poll workers.
So uh that is the otherimportant thing to remember that
is different than previousyears and is really critical to
think about uh ahead of electionday.
Liz Canada (12:54):
You can go to your town or city clerk earlier.
The clerk will be so happy tosee you.
It's like, oh my goodness,you're here to register to vote.
Usually people are waitinguntil the day of.
You can do your work inadvance, and then on election
day, you still need to bring anID.
Yes.
That is now the law in NewHampshire.
You must show an ID.
So don't forget that it's greatthat you registered in advance
(13:15):
and you'll still need to bringthat with you.
If you're driving, I hope youhave your driver's license on
you as you drive to the polls.
So just bring that inside withyou.
Absolutely.
Bring a friend to your townclerk or city clerk, to their
town clerk or city clerk.
Make it a day trip.
I mean, go to lunch.
Make it a day trip, then go tothe beach, go for a hike, get
some ice cream, treat yourselfafter you register to vote.
Go get some ice creamafterwards.
(13:36):
It's summer in New Hampshire.
It's all the best things andregistering to vote early.
We love to see it.
All right, so I have one morequestion because I don't think
we talked about this in thefirst episode.
So as we think about like allthese election laws and things
are changing when it comes toNew Hampshire elections and, you
know, guidance on what to bringor what is allowed, the person
(13:56):
who is like in charge of NewHampshire elections is the
Secretary of State.
How does the Secretary of Stateget that job?
Because I just mentioned all ofthese other offices where
people are filing to becandidates.
How does the Secretary of Stateget that job?
McKenzie Taylor (14:13):
It's an excellent question.
So in a lot of other states,the voters like vote for the
Secretary of State on the sameballot as they vote for
governor, all these otheroffices.
In New Hampshire, because weare so special, our legislature,
so all 400 state reps and 24state senators, 424 people, vote
on the Secretary of State thesame day they are sworn in in
(14:36):
early December.
Big job for the first day.
I know, big decision, first dayon the job.
You don't have a say, you know,on the ballot directly, but
your legislators do.
So that is the process by whichthe Secretary of State is
chosen every two years.
And it has to be, they have toget a majority of the vote.
It's done uh on a secretballot.
(14:56):
I think just little pieces ofpaper that get counted.
Liz Canada (14:59):
Oh my God.
McKenzie Taylor (14:59):
And that's how we choose our Secretary of
State.
So it is good to know that, youknow, although you are not
voting for them, the folks whorepresent you are taking that
vote the same day they're swornin.
Liz Canada (15:08):
Is that the only position in New Hampshire that's
like that?
Because you have like thedepartment heads in, you know,
state government that go throughthe governor and executive
council.
We have our candidates who wevote for on the ballot.
I don't know if there'sanything else that's sort of
like in that unique position,actually.
McKenzie Taylor (15:24):
Not in that same way.
The there's a couple of folksthat are like relevant to the
state house.
So like the sergeant at arms, Ithink, gets the same voting
process.
And sure.
The house clerk, why I can'tthink of also gets the same
process in terms of voting.
Liz Canada (15:39):
That feels fairly internal to their work, right?
And the Secretary of State isso much broader, like impacts so
much of what's happening in NewHampshire.
Very unique situation there.
McKenzie Taylor (15:50):
Not even just voting.
You know, Secretary of Statealso oversees like the lobbying
reports and all of that work.
A ton of business pieces are atSecretary of State's office.
So it's a really big job.
If you didn't, if you didn'tknow how that person uh gets
into office, that's the process.
Liz Canada (16:06):
The 424 legislators, they make that call.
All right, McKenzie.
Thank you.
Great mini sode.
Get up to date and hopefully uhfolks have the information they
need.
And I imagine you might comeback if anything changes in the
future.
Of course.
Thanks, Liz.
Thanks, McKenzie.
New Hampshire has Issues isgenerously sponsored by Seacoast
(16:30):
Soils, an organic compost andtopsoil provider for New
Hampshire, Maine, and NortheastPassachus.
Visit their website atwww.seaccoastsoil.com.
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