Action Alert! Ask Governor Sununu to VETO HB 1569
Contact Governor Sununu:
Basic Talking Points
If this law is passed, how could it affect voters with disabilities?
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It will be harder for eligible voters with disabilities to register and vote.
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The costs of getting the required documents are especially burdensome for individuals with disabilities who rely on federal benefits or have fixed and low incomes.
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Requiring disabled voters to provide documents like a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization papers is particularly difficult. These documents can cost hundreds of dollars and may take months to obtain.
- Getting the documents needed to prove citizenship, identity, age, and where you live takes a lot of time and effort. Requiring these documents for voter registration creates problems for people with disabilities who:
- (a) Lack easy access to transportation,
- (b) Live in places like nursing homes or group homes where they might not have their personal documents readily available, and/or
- (c) Don’t have the help they need to deal with government offices on their own.
Letter from Disability Rights Center – NH to Governor Sununu
September 9, 2024
Via Electronic Mail Only (governorsununu@nh.gov)
The Honorable Christopher Sununu Governor of New Hampshire
Re: HB 1569, relative to eliminating voter identification exceptions
Dear Governor Sununu:
I am writing on behalf of the Disability Rights Center- NH (DRC-NH) to urge you to veto HB 1569. As the State’s Protection and Advocacy System for people with disabilities, DRC-NH is very concerned that passage of HB 1569, regardless of whether it would be in effect before or after the upcoming general election, would negatively impact, and likely disenfranchise, a considerable number of disabled voters.
This bill, if enacted, would likely lead to eligible voters with disabilities not registering, and therefore, not exercising their right to vote because of financial barriers and the difficulty of navigating the burdensome process to obtain certain documents. The time and resources necessary to secure documents proving citizenship, identity, age, and domicile are significant. Requiring people to secure these documents to register to vote poses barriers to individuals with disabilities who: (a) do not have ready access to transportation; (b) due to their living circumstances (e.g. nursing homes, residential facilities) may not have immediate access to their personal documents; and/or (c) do not have access to the support needed to successfully navigate government offices on their own. In addition, the monetary costs associated with securing these documents are more onerous for individuals with disabilities who rely on federal benefits or otherwise have fixed and/or low incomes. Requiring such disabled voters to produce a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers is perhaps the most onerous requirement as securing these documents can cost up to hundreds of dollars and take months to acquire.
For all these reasons, DRC-NH requests that you veto this bill when it arrives at your desk.
