Episode 32767: Open Democracy Minute for November 15, 2021: Voters in Redistricting Map Hearings Condemn Congressional Maps

Open Democracy Minute

You're listening to the Open Democracy Minute, keeping Granite State government by and for the people. Hearings in the NH House Special Committee on Redistricting were held last week on proposed Democratic and Republican maps for NH House, U.S. Congress, and County Commissions. The bombshell GOP map proposal that severely gerrymandered the Congressional maps spurred outrage and almost universal condemnation. And despite a fair maps resolution in 74 towns representing 561,000 Granite Staters, and hundreds of voters testifying for a fair process, the majority on the committee seems poised to ignore the voters and rig the maps for the next 10 years. The committee has executive sessions Tuesday & Wednesday, Nov, 16th & 17th beginning at 10 am at the Legislative Office Building in Concord to make their final amendments and vote on the proposals, sending them out for a full House vote in January. Some good news last Friday as the NH House Election Law committee acted on several retained bills from earlier this year. The committee voted “interim study on these onerous bills: HB 554, which would have set new rules defining who has temporary domicile for voting purposes which targeted students; HB 535, which proposed eliminating the “Qualified Voter Affidavit” which allows people to attest to their identity and vote if they forgot a document, but under penalty of a fine and jail time; and HB 531, which would have replaced the Qualified Voter Affidavit with a “Provisional Ballot” which the voter fills out but which wouldn’t count unless they returned that day with the missing document. While dead for this year, expect more bills based on the debunked Stop the Steal voter fraud narrative next year. As Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we HAVE, it's something we DO.” For the Open Democracy Minute, I'm Brian Beihl.