(CONCORD, NH) U.S Attorney General Eric Holder could be the last hurdle between New Hampshire and its new Voter ID law. Granite State lawmakers may have overcome the objection of Governor John Lynch to the state’s new Voter ID law, but they may still have to get Holder’s permission. Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Department of Justice must “pre-clear” any changes in election laws affecting ten New Hampshire communities.

Attorney General Eric Holder
Picture: US DOJ

The House and Senate overrode Lynch’s veto to a new Voter ID law on Wednesday, meaning voters will have to show photo identification at the polls this fall, or sign an affidavit that they are who they claim to be. New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Matt Mavrogeorge tells New Hampshire Watchdog that his office has let Washington know that the new law is on the books.

“We’ve been in contact with the lawyers in Washington to let them know about the law,” Mavrogeorge says. “We don’t anticipate any problems.”

TEXAS AND SOUTH CAROLINA
But Holder has already lodged objections to similar laws passed in two southern states. In December, the DOJ objected to South Carolina’s new Voter ID law, arguing that racial minorities would be “significantly burdened” by having to show identification at the polls. In March, Justice determined that Texas lawmakers failed to prove their state’s new Voter ID law did not have a “discriminatory purpose or effect.”

The Attorney General is at the center of showdown with the U.S. House of Representatives, which last week found Holder in contempt for failure to release documents related to the Justice Department’s Fast and Furious gun-running program.

BAILOUT
The Justice Department has never objected to any of New Hampshire election law changes, according to Mavrogeorge, but the Granite State largely ignored its status under the Voting Rights Act for several decades. In 2004, New Hampshire Attorney General Peter Heed began the process of removing the Granite State from the pre-clearance list, arguing that it shouldn’t have been singled out for special scrutiny in the first place. Mavrogeorge calls this process the “Bailout”.

Concord Monitor reporter Molly A.K. Connors traced New Hampshire’s inclusion under Section 5 of the VRA to November 1968, when less than 50% of adults cast ballots in ten towns. Since New Hampshire also had a defunct literacy test on the books, it triggered Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act as a jurisdiction suspect of racial discrimination. Connors was unable to determine why turnout in ten small towns was so low that day, but no one in New Hampshire or Washington suspects racial discrimination in communities that had virtually no minority population at the time.

Mavrogeorge says his office has been compiling every change made to the state’s election laws since 1968 in order to receive belated permission from the federal government.

“I don’t know of any problems,” Mavrogeorge says. “They were very helpful in getting the redistricting plans pre-cleared in time for the filing period.”

Once all past changes are approved, the DOJ will consider removing New Hampshire from future pre-clearance obligations. New Hampshire is the only jurisdiction still covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to which the Department of Justice has never lodged an objection to changes in election laws.

VOTER FRAUD IN NH
In January, Project Veritas released video showing poll workers handing out ballots of deceased voters during New Hampshire’s First in the Nation Primary. In April, a Project Veritas activist was offered Holder’s own ballot in Washington, DC. DOJ officials argue that instances of “manufactured” voter fraud do not justify forcing all voters to prove they are who they say.

The DOJ has released several dozens jurisdictions ranging from nine towns in Massachusetts to Honolulu County, Hawaii from Section 5 pre-clearance since 1967. Three Virginia counties and the City of Pinson, Alabama bailed out of Section 5 earlier this year.

NH COVERED JURISDICTIONS

Antrim

Benton

Boscawen

Millsfield

Newington

Rindge

Pinkham’s Grant

Stratford

Stewartstown

Unity