This story was originally produced by The Keene Sentinel. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
The U.S. Department of Justice recently sent a letter to New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan, threatening him with criminal prosecution if noncitizens are allowed to vote.
Scanlan is not alone in receiving the missive.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon sent similar letters to top state election officials across the country.
The letter to Scanlan didn’t provide any evidence that the illegal practice has actually been occurring, and voting rights organizations say instances of it are vanishingly rare.
But the letter does note that state election officers, “including the chief election officer of the state, could be criminally prosecuted for aiding and abetting” violation of federal laws against voting by noncitizens.
The letter, dated July 7, asks for a written response in five days.
Scanlan, a Republican, said Monday by email, “We have not responded yet, and will let you know if, or when, we do."
He and other state leaders have repeatedly praised New Hampshire’s election system, and in a recent statement, Scanlan said that “New Hampshire will continue to conduct secure, reliable, and transparent elections."
State Rep. Nicholas Germana, D-Keene, a Keene State College history professor and deputy Democratic floor leader in the New Hampshire House, said such letters are intended to curry favor from President Donald Trump, and show federal agencies lack independence.
“It is part of a larger agenda to undermine faith in elections," Germana said.
“The most insidious part is that by beating this drum perpetually that there is election fraud, even though there is no evidence, it sets the stage that at any point in the future, if there is an outcome they don’t like, they can claim fraud. They are constantly setting the table to make that claim.”
Trump has been outspoken in claiming, without evidence, that election fraud led him to lose the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
New Hampshire requires that in order to register to vote, a person must provide evidence of U.S. citizenship, or sign a sworn affidavit to that effect.
In May, a federal judge struck down as unconstitutional a 2024 New Hampshire law to end the affidavit procedure and instead require documentation such as a birth certificate or U.S. passport.
Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Windham, a retired chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, was the prime sponsor of the bill that created that law.
He acknowledged during legislative consideration of his bill that voter fraud cases are infrequent. But he added that it’s hard to know how often the crime is committed.
“Is it a significant number beyond one or two? We don’t really know the answer to that,” he said.
In striking down the law, Concord-based U.S. District Court Judge Samantha Elliott, citing expert testimony, noted that "wrongful voting by noncitizens is essentially non-existent."
