I write in STRONG opposition to NH Senate Bills 213, 218, and 287, and all their negative impacts on vulnerable groups of voters who cast absentee ballots – those living with disabilities who may have no way to leave their homes or would need expensive or complex planning, the elderly, those providing 24/7 care to a family member, and those with very limited financial means – as well as those of us who are consistent and lifelong voters.

It’s about people like me – now 78, who first voted at 21, can count on one hand the elections I missed, and now may not be able to participate in bad weather because I walk with a cane, have a bad back, and can’t risk a fall, as I live alone. There are many of us. It’s about people like my friend, widowed last year and caring for an adult child with disabilities who cannot be left alone, who might not be able to go to a polling place on election day. There are many such families. It’s about so many parents I have known whose children were sent home ill from school or daycare, and there is no one that can come to help with care on election day.

I have worked with many families who were in such a situation, more likely than not single parent situations.

For some like me, it’s about having or not having a genuine copy of a birth certificate. Having lost a prior one in a move, I was able to drive to my birthplace – Vermont – to pick it up. I needed to complete a passport application so I could visit Campobello Island in Canada. I am one of the fortunates. So many people I know were born in very distant places. It was not so expensive for me to order several copies and drive to Vermont, but then, that was a decade and a half ago. Some might find the cost unmanageable today, even by mail, and a trip unthinkable.

And for some, as I once was, caring for an elderly parent with dementia, there is no safe time to leave for the polls, nor anyone to help. So many of us in this cohort are lifelong voters, who, after decades of exercising this right and responsibility, will be required to re-establish eligibility because we now need to vote by absentee ballot due to the circumstances of our lives.

These bills also create significant barriers for any Americans needing to vote from overseas. It takes considerable lack of awareness or indifference to others’ lives to write bills that assume people have copiers in their homes, or can go out to their city or town clerk at will, or have the in-home equipment or computer skills to use online notary services, or have the financial means to access and provide all the new kinds of documentation these bills require.

Why is this happening?

Some New Hampshire residents and legislators joined in the loud cries alleging voter fraud that began around the 2016 election and have intensified over time. Here are some findings from The Heritage Foundation and the New Hampshire Secretary of State:

Heritage Database | Election Fraud Map: Explore the Data | The Heritage Foundation

– approx. 14 cases prosecuted for 2016 general election, please read full descriptions

NH Secretary of State 2016 General Election –

Summary of Ballots Cast

GENERAL ELECTION SUMMARY OF BALLOTS

Total ballots cast: 755,850 please see full tables

Percent of fraud cases to ballots cast: 0.001852219

The numbers of cases in subsequent years have decreased, as reported by The Heritage Foundation I’ve actually volunteered in political campaigns for most of my adult life, when circumstances have allowed, so have seen a lot. However, as I testified to the Special Commission on Voter Confidence in 2022, I have never witnessed fraud or attempted fraud. The Commission itself reported that New Hampshire elections are secure, and that the minuscule number of voter fraud incidents in New Hampshire never, ever come close to affecting an election outcome.

All three Senate bills:

1) undermine the purpose of absentee voting and risk disenfranchising elderly, low-income, and disabled voters, and

2) disproportionately impact voters with disabilities, those without internet/printer access, or those voting from overseas.

So, for those of you who support erecting these kinds of barriers with more restrictions on absentee voting, WHY are you doing it?

Legislators, PLEASE, do the right thing and oppose these bills.

Governor Ayotte, if these bills arrive on your desk, PLEASE VETO all of them.

Our legislators and our governor need to hear from us. Please contact them if you agree.