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New Hampshire this month held its first elections since it began requiring documented proof of citizenship to register to vote, and some people who tried to register to vote couldn’t do so.
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan said he doesn’t have data on how many people couldn’t register for lack of documentation, “but clearly there were some.”
“What I learned from this is, the administration of this law is doable,” Scanlan said, “but based on the number of individuals that were turned away to get further documentation, we know that we have a lot more work to do to prepare the voting population before the next round of state elections, which would be in 2026.”
Voters and election officials around the country should pay close attention to how this new requirement affects voters in New Hampshire, because one way or another, they could be contending with similar requirements before long.
Congress is expected soon to again take up the SAVE Act, Republican-backed legislation that would require anyone registering to vote to provide documentary proof of citizenship at the time of registration.
Proponents say that is a necessary precaution to make sure only citizens are voting in federal elections. But voting rights advocates and many experts are fiercely opposing it, warning that it would potentially disenfranchise millions of eligible voters, create high barriers even for those who are able to comply, and undermine voter registration. Noncitizen voting is extraordinarily rare, and voters must already attest they are citizens when registering, under the penalty of perjury.
Election officials also warn that such legislation creates new administrative burdens that could prove difficult to meet. In a letter raising concerns about the SAVE Act sent March 11, Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, a Republican, said its requirement that people who register by mail provide proof of citizenship in person at the county elections office “will prove unworkable amidst the tight timelines and strained resources faced by our local officials.”
Both opponents and proponents acknowledge that the SAVE Act faces a difficult path to becoming law through the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to clear procedural hurdles. But 19 states are also considering passing new proof of citizenship requirements, according to the Voting Rights Lab, which tracks state-level legislation on voting and elections, and at least some of those bills are more likely to become law.
Millions of Americans “just don’t have ready access to the kinds of documentation that the SAVE Act and many of these proposals are going to require for voting and registering to vote,” such as a birth certificate or passport, said Jasleen Singh, counsel in the democracy program at the nonprofit Brennan Center for Justice.
Arizona is the only state that has long enforced a proof of citizenship requirement, and Arizona citizens who don’t provide it cannot vote in state and local elections, though the state must permit them to vote in federal races.
It’s a different story in New Hampshire, which is one of six states not subject to the National Voter Registration Act. (Wyoming, where legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register just became law, is another.)
That asterisk effectively means people who aren’t able to provide citizenship documentation in New Hampshire can’t register to vote at all. The elections earlier this month were local ones in many of the state’s towns, and such elections typically have lower turnout, Scanlan said. When it’s time for higher-turnout general elections, many more people would likely struggle to register.
The New Hampshire Campaign for Voting Rights had observers in 22 different voting locations who reported seeing 58 people who didn’t have sufficient documentation to register, at least initially, said McKenzie Taylor, the group’s campaign director. Local media also reported voters struggling to meet the requirements, sometimes making multiple trips to retrieve documentation.
Taylor noted that her group’s number includes at least four people who had proof of citizenship documentation such as a birth certificate, but whose current name didn’t match the name on the documents — something advocates have warned could become a big issue under the SAVE Act for people who have changed their names.
In such cases, New Hampshire requires additional documentation of the person’s legal name change, such as a marriage certificate or court order.
An estimated 357,000 citizens have legally changed their name in New Hampshire, an analysis of data from the U.S. Census and the Pew Research Center by the Voting Rights Lab found. In some states considering proof of citizenship requirements, that number is far higher. In Texas, for example, where legislation would require documentation not just from anyone registering to vote but from 18.6 million already-registered voters, that number is an estimated 6 million. In Michigan, it’s estimated at more than 2.3 million.
There are other issues, too. Scanlan said the state Legislature is considering a bill that would allow him to use resources to help people obtain needed documentation. That’s easier if people were born in New Hampshire and their birth certificate is on file with the state. But more than half the state’s residents were born elsewhere.
Scanlan said this election showed many people weren’t aware of the new registration requirements, and said election officials will have to look beyond traditional media outlets and official websites and social media accounts to inform people.
There are at least two lawsuits challenging the New Hampshire law, including one from the ACLU that argues it violates the First and 14th amendments to the Constitution. So far, the law remains in place — and anyone who wants to register to vote there will have to reckon with it.
This election showed everyone might not be able to do so.
Carrie Levine is Votebeat’s interim editor-in-chief and is based in Washington, D.C. She edits and frequently writes Votebeat’s national newsletter. Contact Carrie at clevine@votebeat.org.
