Staff reports 7 a.m.
Saturday, May 30, 2026 7:00 am
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CONCORD - Secretary of State David Scanlon on Friday released a statement following a federal judge's ruling that said New Hampshire must allow voters to use a citizen affidavit to prove citizenship at the polls.
HB 1569, passed two years ago had eliminated the qualified voter affidavit as a means of proving citizenship and eliminated the challenged voter affidavit as a procedural safeguard for challenged voters.
"The Court's order does not impact the portions of HB 1569 that require registrants to provide documentary proof of identity, age, and domicile, and a voter cannot use an affidavit to prove identity, age, or domicile," Scanlon explained. "Nor does the Court's order impact the portion of HB 1569 that requires every voter to provide proof of identity when checking in to obtain a ballot on election day, and a voter who lacks proof of ID on election day cannot complete a challenged voter affidavit to prove identity and obtain a ballot."
Until further notice, the Secretary of State's Office will reimplement the use of the qualified voter affidavit solely for a registrant to prove citizenship. However, Secretary Scanlan encourages all registrants, to the extent possible, to provide documentary proof of citizenship or ask election officials to verify citizenship using state inquiries of Vital Records and Division of Motor Vehicles information.
"Even though voters may now prove citizenship using an affidavit, Secretary Scanlan notes that the unaffected portions of HB 1569 will still increase trust and confidence that all voters who cast a ballot in New Hampshire elections are qualified to do so," according to a statement from Scanlon's office.
Voters will still need to provide proof of identity when obtaining a ballot, and new registrants will still need to provide documentary proof of identity, age, and domicile. Pending legislation would also allow the Secretary to audit the citizenship status of voters who will use or have used a qualified voter affidavit to prove their citizenship.