Washington, D.C. – New Hampshire Democrat Secretary of State, Bill Gardner, has been in office for over 40 years, and knows election law better than anyone in the Granite State. For months, he has been trying to convince New Hampshire’s all-Democrat federal delegation that the federal elections takeover proposed in Congress is very bad news for New Hampshire and its First in the Nation primary.
In a new interview with the New Hampshire Journal, Gardner blasted the bill and Maggie Hassan’s recent flip-flop in favor of eliminating the filibuster in order to pass the sweeping legislation. Specifically, Gardner says this legislation absolutely hurts voter turnout in New Hampshire.
“They keep saying these new rules will lead to more voting, but that’s not the record if you look at the facts… If you cheapen the value of voting, and you have people losing faith in the process, you’ll lose people on Election Day. That’s what’s been happening in other states,” said Gardner.
Currently, New Hampshire’s 78.3% voter turnout rate is one of the highest in the nation, much higher than in states like Colorado and California.
Gardner also warned that by federalizing elections, New Hampshire will lose in a big way and may lose many of their current voting laws:
“New Hampshire has two members of Congress. States like California, New York, and Texas have far more. If we let Congress make our local election rules, which states are going to decide what the rules are? California’s not going to get New Hampshire’s election system. We’re going to get stuck with theirs.”
Perhaps most damning of all is that Senator Hassan never once spoke to her state’s most senior election official before her brazen political flip-flop that sold out her state. In fact, Gardner said that not only has she never discussed this bill or her decision with him but never discussed such topics with him when she was Governor!
Statement from NRSC Spokesman T.W. Arrighi: “If the unfolding Maggie Hassan saga on federalizing New Hampshire’s elections has told voters anything it’s that she has no idea what she is doing. Not only has she proven herself wildly ignorant of her own state’s laws and voter participation, but she has refused to consult the longest-serving statewide leader in her party who also happens to be an expert on the topic. Hassan serves only herself, and in her estimation, if her political survival means betraying her constituents then so be it.”
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