Marcia Hayward: There’s a lot that needs reforming about electoral process

To The Daily Sun

Thank you Earl Miller of Moultonborough for raising your concerns about voter suppression (Daily Sun, July 29). However, I would like to add other top issues concerning voting in America by referencing Kim Whele, professor of Law at the University of Baltimore, as well as a legal analyst for CBS news and contributor for BBC World News. In addition to voter suppression, let’s add gerrymandering, the lack of term limits in Congress, a Senate that by constitutional design weights certain votes more than others, a system which discounts voters who chose candidates that didn’t get a majority or plurality of votes, corporate and “dark” money in politics and voter misinformation.

Please note voter fraud is not on the list because there isn’t any empirical data suggesting it is a problem. These issues threaten our democracy. If anyone wants to know how, I recommend reading Professor Whele’s book entitled, "What You Need to Know About Voting and Why."

These issues exist here in New Hampshire. So, what has the New Hampshire Legislature done to address any of these problems? The answer is in 2019 and 2020 nine bills were presented for a vote. They were HB-161, HB-105, HB-106, HB-706, SB-67, SB-151, HB-1665, HB-1672, and SB-7. Some of the issues these bills were attempting to address were:

— Simplify voter registration

— Establish an independent commission to end gerrymandering

— Support NO excuse absentee balloting (only 16 states require an excuse for absentee balloting and N.H. is one of them).

— Bring about more transparency in campaign financing

— Remover barriers to a student’s right to vote

These bills were heavily supported by Democrats and some Republicans. However, they were not supported by the majority of Republicans and ALL were VETOED by Gov. Chris Sununu.

As a Democratic candidate for District 3 Belknap County, which serves Laconia, I favor all the changes these bills would have brought forth. I ask Republicans and independents to join me in supporting these changes which will ensure a person’s right to vote.

A final thought on voting. The process of mail-in voting in New Hampshire has been around for a long time however, approximately only 10 percent of the population uses it. With the COVID pandemic, I encourage voters to take advantage of absentee voting. If one has questions about voting, go to www.voteinnh.org or call 603-GO-N-VOTE (603-466-8683). Do it now to take the stress off of City Hall and the postal system.

As Professor Whele emphasizes, the American government is a government by “We the People.” They only way to make politicians comply with the wishes of the voters is at the ballot box. VOTE!

Marcia Hayward

Laconia