CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE – Today, the New Hampshire Supreme Court issued a ruling striking down SB 3 in its entirety, holding that the Republican-passed law complicating the voter registration process violates Part I, Article 11 of the New Hampshire Constitution.  Deputy House Democratic Leader David E. Cote (D-Nashua), ranking member of the House Election Law Committee, released the following statement:

“Democrats opposed SB 3 from the moment it was introduced in the legislature because it was clearly an unconstitutional attempt to restrict the ability of qualified voters to vote.  SB 3 added no security to our elections and unconstitutionally created a separate class of voters with different qualifications.  The Supreme Court’s strong, unanimous ruling today, which concluded the state failed to ‘demonstrate that SB 3 is substantially related to an important governmental objective,’ confirms what Democrats said all along – there is no reasonable justification for enacting these unnecessary, confusing obstacles to the voter registration process.

It should be the duty of the legislature to assure that qualified voters may freely exercise their Constitutional right to vote.   Despite two centuries of successful elections in New Hampshire, the goal of New Hampshire Republicans in recent years has been to enact as many roadblocks to voting as possible.  I thank the New Hampshire Supreme Court for its clear, unanimous ruling today, striking down a law that never should have been enacted.”