This week, the feds approved New Hampshire’s controversial new voter ID law. But voters won’t notice much difference during the upcoming primary elections. If you go to the polls next week and don’t have proper ID, you will still get your ballot--and a document explaining the new law. The real change will come during the general elections in November. Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan says November voters coming to the polls without ID will have to sign an affidavit swearing that they are who they say they are. Then they get to cast their votes.
“There’s no requirement that a voter must get a voter ID," Scanlan says. "If they are willing to sign a challenged voter affidavit every election when they go in to vote, in lieu of presenting an ID, then they could continue to do that in perpetuity.”
Acceptable ID includes a driver’s license from any state, a US passport—either can be expired—and military and student ID’s, among others. Scanlan says the law also calls for the state to provide free ID’s for voters who don’t have them, which should be available in early October.
