New data suggest that more than 5,000 people who
cast ballots in New Hampshire in the 2016 U.S. presidential election
might not have been residents of the state.
These voters likely used out-of-state driver’s licenses and have not since obtained an in-state license or registered a vehicle.
New Hampshire House Speaker Shawn Jasper, a
Republican, released the data Thursday following his inquiries to the
state’s Department of State and the Department of Safety, which
supervise elections.
The new figures could potentially call into question
the validity of the New Hampshire results for Nov. 8, when Democratic
nominee Hillary Clinton outpolled Republican nominee Donald Trump by a
mere 2,736 votes.
Conservatives have long criticized certain practices
of voter registration, such as same-day registration, claiming lax rules
invite fraud and abuse of the electoral system, the Washington Times reported.
In February, White House adviser Stephen Miller came
under fire for suggesting that nonresident Democratic Party voters
arrived in droves to New Hampshire to vote for Clinton.
Miller told ABC in February: “Having worked before on
a campaign in New Hampshire, I can tell you that this issue of busing
voters into New Hampshire is widely known by anyone who’s worked in New
Hampshire politics. It’s very real. It’s very serious. This morning, on
this show, is not the venue for me to lay out all the evidence.”
The Washington Post described Miller’s claim as “the same bogus talking points that have been repeatedly shown to be false.”
The figures obtained by Jasper, however, reveal the
potential abuse of the voting procedure. According to the data, 6,540
people registered to vote, and voted in the New Hampshire election,
provided just out-of-state license.
Only 15 percent, roughly about 1,014 of the voters,
have since obtained the in-state license, while 200 other people had
since registered a vehicle in the state.
Despite New Hampshire law mandating that drivers
acquire a state driving license within 60 days of becoming a resident in
the state, more than 80 percent of people who registered to vote with
out-of-state licenses still had not received their in-state license or
registered a new vehicle – nearly 10 months after the election.
In addition, 196 people were under investigation for voting in two states.
Recently, three elections in New Hampshire were won by fewer than 5,000 votes, the Concord Patch
reported. Clinton won against Trump by 2,736 votes, Democratic Gov.
Maggie Hassan beat U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte by 1,017 votes and U.S. Rep.
Carol Shea-Porter won against incumbent U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta by 4,900
votes.
Democrats have fired back at the new data, calling it
an attempt to use “selective data and misinformation” to justify claims
made by the White House about the voter fraud.
State Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley
claimed Jasper “selectively requested information about voters who
registered with out-of-state licenses, an entirely legal and normal
practice. They can easily be accounted for by college students and other
new Granite Staters who deferred acquiring an in-state license or don't
intend to drive in the state,” WMUR9 reported.
State Senate Democratic Leader Jeff Woodburn
seconded: “Using cherry-picked data in order to support a false claim is
dangerous and irresponsible. Today’s release of information by Speaker
Jasper’s office fans the flames of misinformation in order to further
suppress our citizens’ right to vote.”
Jasper addressed the criticism that the figures can
be accounted with just college students, claiming there were multiple
people who “did not comply with the law.”
“College students are eligible to vote if they
declare domicile here, but anybody who does that then has to comply with
the laws of the state,” he said, according to WMUR9. “If someone is
domiciled in New Hampshire (and has a vehicle), then within 60 days,
they need to obtain a driver’s license. I think we will find that within
that 5,000, there will be many who did not comply with the law.”
The two state agencies that issued the data to
Jaspers also released an explanation of why certain people could have
voted without having an in-state driving license or have registered the
vehicle even 10 months later after the election.
“It is likely that some unknown number of these
individuals moved out of New Hampshire, it is possible that a few may
have never driven in New Hampshire or have ceased driving, however, it
is expected that an unknown number of the remainder continue to live and
drive in New Hampshire. If they have established their residence in New
Hampshire, they may have failed to obtain a New Hampshire driver’s
license,” wrote Safety Commissioner John Barthelmes and Secretary of
State Bill Gardner.
The letter does not suggest all people who voted with out-of-state driving licenses voted illegally.