New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan said it would be difficult, if not impossible, to comply with a federal executive order mandating states to supply the U.S. Postal Service with lists of mail ballot recipients, and place barcodes on all ballot envelopes.
At a news conference Thursday, Scanlan said it would be “problematic” for the state to comply with the mail-in voting restrictions outlined in the order.
In New Hampshire, the only form of mail-in voting is absentee voting for voters who meet certain conditions.
As the state’s chief election officer, Scanlan has been critical of the order since it was released earlier this year. While key parts of it are blocked by a temporary restraining order from a federal judge in Boston, President Trump has asked the Supreme Court to lift the block.
“It would be problematic for New Hampshire to comply with the executive order because of the way our system works,” Scanlan said.
Scanlan points out that absentee ballots are issued by the local town clerks and those clerks keep track of who has applied to receive them. And absentee ballots can be requested right up until the day of the election.
“So there is no way for New Hampshire to provide an approved absentee voter list within the 60 days that the federal executive order would require,” he said.
Scanlan said he continues to monitor the pending litigation over the order, which he notes will not be in effect for the state primary election on Sept. 8.
Lawsuit over tax cap ballot question
The Secretary of State’s office is watching other lawsuits for the midterm election, including a new legal challenge seeking to keep a local school tax cap question off the November ballot in New Hampshire. Opponents say the tax cap question is confusing and misleading.
At his news conference, Scanlan said part of that case will touch upon deadlines that need to be met to ensure an orderly balloting process this fall. “Once the ballots are in the printing process, you know, it becomes a little bit more chaotic,” he said.
He said Sept. 19 is probably the “drop dead date of being able to pull things off a ballot and still have ballots ready on time.”
Federal election monitors
Scanlan’s office met with the Manchester city clerk and local election officials in Manchester on Wednesday to discuss state election law after learning the U.S. Department of Justice will visit polling locations in Manchester and Nashua during the state primary Sept. 8.
The office planned to meet with Nashua officials Thursday. The takeaway, Scanlan says: A monitor from the U.S. Department of Justice will be treated the same as an observer in the polling place.
“The moderators have broad discretion in the polling places to determine where public observation can be, but the area outside the rail is public space and people can wander around,” he said. “The expectation is the monitors may want to ask questions of local election officials and voters. … that’s fine, as long as that process does not in any way impede the process of voting…or, you know, does not involve voter intimidation.”
When asked, Scanlan said he does not have a concern that it will be disruptive. He noted federal monitors were in Massachusetts for their primary, without incident, earlier this week.
“I have noticed in this election that the anxiety level of poll workers and voters has increased because of all the talk about, you know, what might happen at the polling place,” Scanlan said. “There’s concerns that ICE is going to have a presence in the general election, but I have not heard anything that would lead me to believe that that’s the case.”
An independent candidate won’t make ballot
Scanlan said Aaron Day, an independent candidate for U.S. Senate, will not be on the November ballot after all.
Scanlan had denied Day’s candidacy twice earlier this summer because Day was not registered to vote in Nashua, where he lives, when he filed his candidate paperwork.
But a federal judge this week concluded the state’s rejection of Day's candidacy violated the U.S. constitution and federal legal precedent, and ordered the state to include Day on the Nov. 3 ballot if he is "otherwise eligible."
Scanlan said at his news conference that Day is ineligible on different grounds – he failed to get his paperwork to Scanlan's office in time.
“He missed the deadline with his nomination papers. So he will not be on the general election ballot.”
Day has not yet returned NHPR's request for comment.
