On July 30, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph N. LaPlante, a Bush Jr. appointee, refused to dismiss Casey v New Hampshire Secretary of State, 1:19cv-149. This is an ACLU case filed earlier this year against a New Hampshire law that says no one can register to vote in New Hampshire if they have a drivers license and car registration from another state. The two plaintiffs are both students who go to school in New Hampshire and live in New Hampshire. But they don’t want to obtain New Hampshire drivers licenses and car registrations because of the expense, and because they know in a matter of a few years they will no longer be living in New Hampshire. One plaintiff has a California drivers license and the other has a Louisiana license.
The judge’s order, refusing to dismiss the case at this point, was delivered from the bench and is not yet in writing. The next step is a status conference in a few weeks.
This New Hampshire law is a poll tax. That hurts us all. The law probably blunts the Free State Project as well.
Mass RED communists trying to take over NH, VT, CT, RI ???
ALLEGIANCE connection to a regime with being an Elector-Voter in such regime.
New Age RED Donkey communists regard such notion to be obsolete, of course.
Crazy dumb law. Toss it.
Any inter-state compact about drivers licenses and/or car registrations ???
— ie — showing up at a State border with any such *foreign* drivers license and/or car registration.
When the uniform appointment (election) date for presidential electors was set in the 1840s it was to curb the practice of “pipelining” where voters might travel across state lines and vote in multiple states.
A similar argument was made when the uniform election date was extended to US Representative.
New Hamphshire has an interest in ensuring that a new resident is a bona fide resident and complies with laws associated weith residency such as vehicle registration, drivers licensing, jury service, and and other obligations associated with state citizenship.
Better would be to have the United States establish registration of all persons. If a citizen changed residence, the new state and old state would be informed. The new state would automatically register its new citizen. The registry could also be used in conjunction with the census. The old state would cancel voter registration, inform insurance carrier, etc.
Non-citizens, whether permanent residents or otherwise would also be registered.
An inter-State compact about the State voter registration stuff ???
@DR,
Congress time-place-manner regulation, and 14-1 “state citizenship based on residence”. If a state does not permit a citizen on the federal registry to vote, it would be considered infringement.
There is an interstate compact on drivers licenses. If someone moves, refund a pro rata share of the fee, and suspend the license (60 days?). Streamline conversion if the person so desires to drive in their new state of residence.