Favorable Press from the Union Leader

February 10, 2013 by Darryl W. Perry
Filed under: Concord, Free State Project, Issues, Manchester, New Hampshire, News, Politics

On February 7, the Election Law Committee of the NH House of Representatives heard testimony on HB521, a bill that proposes to establish a committee to examine all of New Hampshire’s election laws and see where there’s room for improvement.

The Union Leader has the following report:

Darryl Perry of the New Hampshire Liberty Party said “the perfect solution” to increase voter participation is “to create ballot access fairness.”
He said opponents claim that would create confusion. But, he said, “New Hampshire is actually very proud of the fact that they have a larger number of candidates running in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. So if ballot or voter confusion is not a problem for the primaries, why would it then all of a sudden become a problem for the general election?”
“The answer is: It’s not a problem,” he said.

The Election Law Committee will hold an Executive Session at some point in the near future (the date and time has not yet been added to the House calendar). During the Executive Session, the committee will decide whether or not to adopt the amendment I proposed and also vote on whether or not the bill should go before the full House.

davidinkeene

YAY Darryl!
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Keith Smith

Though, doesn’t NH have near the highest or even the highest percentage of voter participation in the country already? Would this really increase participation? Maybe it should be tried in 1 of the dozens of states with lower voter turn out. If turn out increases in that state, expand it nationwide?
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1360234408 Darryl W. Perry
  
  Keith,
  NH has higher voter turnout in Presidential elections than during mid-term elections. http://elections.gmu.edu/voter_turnout.htm
  2000: 63.9% (6th nationally)
  2002: 48.1% (11th nationally)
  2004: 70.9% (5th nationally)
  2006: 41.4% (28th nationally)
  2008: 71.7% (3rd nationally)
  2010: 45.7% (17th nationally)
  2012: 70.1% (4th nationally)
  
  Minnesota consistently has the highest voter turnout in the country and not surprisingly, they have 3 major parties (those receiving over 5% of the statewide vote) and 2 minor parties (those receiving over 1% of the statewide vote).
  http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=237
  
  PS
  Keith, why do you not want fair ballot access laws?
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1360234408 Darryl W. Perry
  
  The only time NH has turnout over 50% is during Presidential elections.
  Minnesota, Maine, Oregon & South Dakota all have over 60% (Voter Eligible Population) turnout in each of the last 7 elections!
  The Green Party has major party status in Maine. There are 9 parties recognized by the Oregon SOS, and South Dakota’s SOS recognizes 5 political parties.
  
  http://maine.gov/ethics/party/index.htm
  
  http://www.oregonvotes.gov/pages/cand/cand_parties.html
  
  http://sdsos.gov/content/viewcontent.aspx?cat=elections&pg=/elections/electionprocess_recognizedpoliticalparties.shtm
- Keith Smith
  
  Since you point out that 2012: 70.1% (4th nationally), I’m just saying. Check out Presidential primary turnout, also. NH is near the highest in that also. I’m not against fair ballot access laws. Not at all. I was just trying to help you fine turn your argument in the future.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1360234408 Darryl W. Perry
  
  Did you intentionally ignore the fact that in mid-term elections, NH has voter turnout below 50%? I do believe you are bbeing intentionally obtuse!
- http://www.fpp.cc Darryl W. Perry
  
  The only time NH has turnout over 50% is during Presidential elections.
  Minnesota, Maine, Oregon & South Dakota all have over 60% (Voter Eligible Population) turnout in each of the last 7 elections!
  The Green Party has major party status in Maine. There are 9 parties recognized by the Oregon SOS, and South Dakota’s SOS recognizes 5 political parties.
  
  http://maine.gov/ethics/party/index.htm
  
  http://www.oregonvotes.gov/pages/cand/cand_parties.html
  
  http://sdsos.gov/content/viewcontent.aspx?cat=elections&pg=/elections/electionprocess_recognizedpoliticalparties.shtm
http://www.facebook.com/derrickjfr33man Derrick J. Freeman

Alright Darryl!
Keith Smith

Darryl brings up a good point. It depends on the election. For example, the Keene Sentinel claims that less than 0.5% of the voters voted in the most recent voting day in Keene.
Jeremy C. Green

1) Instant Runoff Voting

2) The ballot boxes are made out of clear plastic

3) Anyone who wants to is permitted to set up a video camera to watch the boxes and the counting until the last ballot is counted.