​Dear Honorable Members of the NH Senate,
Vote “no” on SB3.

​If passed, SB3 will result in voter suppression and make voting in New Hampshire cumbersome.  The very idea that it could include police (Gestapo tactics?) knocking on doors of registrants to ask for their papers smacks of Third Reich policies from the 1940’s.  It is abhorrent that the New Hampshire Senate has promoted a bill like this.
 
SB3 is a solution in search of a problem based on superficial beliefs with no significant data to back it up. Rationalizing by referencing fake news like bus loads of people coming from Massachusetts to vote in NH is insidious.  There are real problems of cyber security that affect the vote count system demonstrated by Russian email invasions as well as software 'bug' debacles as demonstrated recently by VW.  A problem worthy of a solution is to insure that votes in New Hampshire are recorded accurately.
 
The Diebold-vote machines found in most New Hampshire communities are vulnerable to manipulation and corruption as reported by knowledgeable University software professors. The New Hampshire Legislature refuses to allow sample post-election hand counts to verify our votes have been counted accurately by the machines.  No candidate who runs for election (local, state, and national) in New Hampshire can be confident they won or lost because the legislature is focused on promoting useless, resource-wasting bills like SB3.
 
Pandering to Donald Trump and Chris Sununu may be hazardous to your next election cycle.  Democracy is hard, do your homework.
 
Vote “no” on SB3.
 
Pat and Ray Waterman

 New Hampshire Community Rights Network
102 Lakeview Hts., Alexandria, NH 03222
[email protected]

3-8-17                                                                                          
Re: HB-368, an act relative to the heating of certain state-owned buildings in Concord and making appropriations therefor.
 
Dear Mr. Chairman and Senate Capital Budget Committee Members,
 
    NH Community Rights Network assists communities in elevating their right to protect themselves and the places they live, for the sake of the health, safety and welfare of residents, local economies, social justice, and environmental sustainability. NH Community Rights Network opposes HB 368 and encourages you to do the same.
    HB 368 is special interest legislation. There is nothing wrong with corporations making a profit and having legislative support of projects. But the decision to move forward with such projects against the will of affected communities and ecosystems reveals corporate determination to exercise its claimed "right" to profit at the cost of communities wanting to protect their health, safety and welfare, economic sustainability, and natural environment.
    Residents impacted by the production, transportation and use of additional fracked-gas infrastructure in the Granite State are expressing opposition to such harmful activities. Just think back to the withdrawn Kinder Morgan, Northeast Energy Direct pipeline project. Any expressed support for fracked-gas infrastructure by politicians, lobbyists and those that are in a position to profit from these projects, in the face of significant opposition from those most affected, does not justify your support nor does it constitute any statewide benefits.
    The plan to shut down Concord Steam and convert it to a fracked-gas burning plant at an exorbitant cost to Granite Staters is simply put, bad legislation. Liberty Utilities is looking to use New Hampshire as a resource colony for profit. Not giving affected communities a final say in the matter is inconsistent with the rights enumerated for residents in our state constitution or our long history of local decision-making through Town Meeting.
    The State is charged with protecting the rights of residents, not corporations. Part 1, Art. 31 of the New Hampshire Constitution makes clear the purpose of the meeting of the New Hampshire legislature, “The legislature shall assemble for the redress of public grievances and for making such laws as the public good may require.” The state constitution does not say that your purpose is to make such laws as special interests may require.
    Clearly, Part 1, Art. 8 of the state constitution makes your job very easy; “All power residing originally in, and being derived from the people, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them.” Listen, do not just hear the voice of the people – for your power is derived from the people and you are at all times accountable to the people.
    NHCRN opposes HB 368 because the conversion of Concord Steam from a NH-sourced wood product biofuel to fracked-gas to benefit Liberty Utilities does not protect the health, safety or welfare of human or natural communities. I urge you to vote ITL on HB 368.
Sincerely,
Michelle
Michelle Sanborn
NHCRN Coordinator, Board of Directors
www.nhcommunityrights.org

 New Hampshire Community Rights Network
102 Lakeview Hts., Alexandria, NH 03222
[email protected]
  
3-7-17
                                                                                          
Re: SB 3, an act relative to domicile for voting purposes.
 Dear Madam Chairwoman and Election Law Committee Members,
   NH Community Rights Network was founded to educate and empower communities and elected officials about our individual and collective right to local self-governance in order to secure and protect the inherent and unalienable rights of all inhabitants of New Hampshire to economic, social and environmental equality and justice, including the rights of nature.
      SB 3 does not propose to protect or expand the voting rights of people within the Granite State. Quite the opposite, this bill proposes to infringe upon the voting rights of those people that may rightfully vote according to existing law and yet somehow find themselves not meeting such a definition of domicile. Therefore, NH Community Rights Network stands opposed to SB 3 and encourages you to vote ITL.
      Law is organic and should change with social needs demanding that protections be specifically extended to human beings that simply want the very same protections that others enjoy. Individuals that “fall through the cracks” of defined domicile will not receive the same protection of their voting rights as those individuals that clearly do meet such a definition. Part 1, Art. 31 of the New Hampshire Constitution makes clear the purpose of the meeting of the New Hampshire legislature, “The legislature shall assemble for the redress of public grievances and for making such laws as the public good may require.” SB 3 is a proposed law that would restrict voting rights, which is not for the public good and therefore should receive a unanimous vote of ITL by the members of this committee.
    Clearly, Part 1, Art. 8 (Accountability of Magistrates and Officers) of the New Hampshire Constitution makes your job very easy, “All power residing originally in, and being derived from the people, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them.” I urge you to respond to, not just hear the voice of the people – for your power is derived from the people and you are at all times accountable to the people. Maintaining election integrity is important. The Granite State already has in place, a state constitution and existing laws regarding the voting rights of those that inhabit this state. Let’s not create a problem where there isn’t one.
     NH Community Rights Network assists communities in elevating their right to protect themselves and the places they live, for the sake of social equality and justice through the right of local community self-governance. It is not enough to have the right to vote when corporations and governments are able to influence not only how we vote and determine what we vote for, but even whether we can vote. SB 3 is a voter restriction bill and should be recommended ITL by the committee.
Respectfully,
Michelle
Michelle Sanborn
NHCRN Coordinator, Board of Directors
www.nhcommunityrights.org

http://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters/102380-michelle-sanborn-2-27Senate Bill 109 was voted down last week by the state Senate. They refused to authorize town moderators to perform a public, random, verification count on vote-counting machines. With only voiced support for SB-109 from a few senators, it is clear that the New Hampshire Senate would rather assume vote-counting machines are accurate than to have evidence of their accuracy.
An amendment was recommended by prime sponsor, Sen. Martha Fuller Clark during the session, but the Senate would not overturn the committee recommendation (3-2 ITL) in order to consider the amendment. The amendment addressed concerns expressed by the Attorney General's office.
In order for the governed to give consent (as articulated in Part 1, Art. 1 of the New Hampshire Constitution) and hold elected officials accountable (as Part 1, Art. 8 of the New Hampshire Constitution declares is their right) through a vote cast, people in each town, city, ward and unincorporated place have a fundamental right to vote (as we see in Part 1, Art. 11 of the New Hampshire Constitution) and receive a verified accurate vote count.
The responsibility for verifying the accuracy of that vote count is held within each community and constitutionally assigned to the town moderators. But the Granite State is approaching 90 percent of municipalities using secret, proprietary software in vote-counting devices without any specific clarity or method to a moderator's constitutional duty to verify the accuracy of the vote-counting machines. SB-109 proposed a means and a method for town moderators to fulfill their constitutional duties and state law where vote-counting devices are used.
Moderators take an oath pursuant to Part 2, Art. 84 of the New Hampshire Constitution and are bound by Part 2, Art. 32 to govern the election process, to openly oversee the counting of votes on election night and make a public declaration of an accurate vote count. In a better political climate, SB-109 might not be necessary, but town moderators have recently had their constitutional authority questioned and challenged by state election officials, and it is absolutely necessary to reaffirm in explicit law, authority that empowers moderators to fulfill their constitutional duty to openly and accurately verify votes counted by vote-counting devices.
Why do state election officials and our senators object to town moderators fulfilling their constitutional duties and numerous state laws that hold them accountable for an accurate vote count? Reach out to your senator and ask how they voted on SB-109. Go to (http://www.nhcommunityrights.org/news--updates/an-accurate-vote-count-doesnt-count-in-nh) for additional information to assist you in speaking with your senator about SB-109.
New Hampshire Community Rights Network (NHCRN) stood up for election integrity and one of our most basic civil rights, our right to vote and have our vote counted accurately by supporting and providing testimony in favor of SB-109. Join "NHCRN" on Facebook or visit them online at www.nhcommunityrights.org to learn about educational opportunities and sign up to receive newsletters and updates about the Community Rights Movement. NHCRN is a grassroots, non-profit organization of community rights efforts, educating and empowering communities and elected officials about our right to local self-governance.
​Michelle Sanborn
NHCRN Coordinator