Veto HB 1062 - Unnecessary Citizenship Audits

HB1062

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Veto HB 1062 - Unnecessary Citizenship Audits

Email Subject:

Dear [Your Elected Official],

I am writing to ask that you to veto House Bill 1062. This bill authorizes the Secretary of State to conduct random audits of the citizenship qualifications of registered voters who submitted a qualified voter affidavit.
 While the bill's stated goal may sound reasonable, the legislation itself is deeply flawed. It instructs the Secretary of State to conduct a "random, statistically sound audit" without ever defining what that means. There is no methodology, no sample size, no criteria for how voters are selected, and no independent oversight. This is an unfunded, undefined mandate that grants broad authority with no accountability and no clear standard for what success looks like.
 More importantly, the existing system is already working. A court-appointed expert found only 47 instances of wrongful voting out of more than 8.3 million votes cast in New Hampshire between 1998 and 2024, and only eight may have involved noncitizens. The Attorney General already has full authority to investigate and prosecute anyone who falsely claims citizenship on an affidavit. A federal court specifically noted that there has never even been a statewide investigation of affidavits because fraud rates are so low. This bill solves a problem that the data does not show exists.
 The timing makes this even more concerning. A federal court just struck down New Hampshire's proof-of-citizenship voter registration law as unconstitutional, and the Secretary of State's office is now working to reimplement affidavit voting ahead of the 2026 midterms and September primary. Layering a new audit bureaucracy on top of that, one the legislature has already written a 2029 repeal date into, diverts time, staff, and resources away from the real priority: helping eligible Granite Staters participate in elections.
 The Secretary of State's office should be focused on voter education and ensuring that every qualified resident can cast a ballot, not administering a vague, temporary audit program that adds cost and complexity to a system that is already functioning well.
 I respectfully urge you to veto HB 1062.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

[Your City & State]

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Summary

HB 1062 would authorize the Secretary of State to conduct random audits of the citizenship qualifications of registered voters who submitted a qualified voter affidavit. But the bill never defines what "random" or "statistically sound" actually means. There is no methodology, no sample size, no selection criteria, and no independent oversight. It is an unfunded, undefined mandate that gives the SOS broad authority with no accountability. The existing system already works. A court-appointed expert found only 47 instances of wrongful voting out of more than 8.3 million votes cast in New Hampshire between 1998 and 2024, and only eight may have involved noncitizens. The Attorney General already has full authority to investigate and prosecute anyone who falsely claims citizenship on an affidavit. And the timing could not be worse: a federal court just struck down New Hampshire's proof-of-citizenship voter registration law as unconstitutional, and the Secretary of State's office is now focused on reimplementing affidavit voting ahead of the 2026 midterms. The SOS should be spending that time and those resources helping eligible Granite Staters vote, not building a bureaucratic audit program that the legislature has already written a repeal date into. Urge Governor Ayotte to veto HB 1062.

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Governor Kelly Ayotte Governor