CHAPTER 212

SB 242 - FINAL VERSION

 

21Apr2022... 1353h

2022 SESSION

22-2894

04/05

 

SENATE BILL 242

 

AN ACT relative to the disqualification of certain persons from performing the duties of an election official.

 

SPONSORS: Sen. Gray, Dist 6; Sen. Ward, Dist 8; Sen. Birdsell, Dist 19

 

COMMITTEE: Election Law and Municipal Affairs

 

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ANALYSIS

 

This bill revises the circumstances under which certain persons are disqualified from performing certain duties of an election official.

 

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

21Apr2022... 1353h 22-2894

04/05

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Two

 

AN ACT relative to the disqualification of certain persons from performing the duties of an election official.

 

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 

212:1  Pre-Election Procedure; Disqualification of Certain Persons.  Amend RSA 658:24 to read as follows:

658:24  Disqualification of Certain Persons.  Any person, other than a moderator, clerk, selectman, inspector of election, or supervisor of the checklist, whose name appears on a ballot for an elective position, other than a position of an election official, shall be disqualified from performing duties as an election official in that election.  A moderator, clerk, selectman, inspector of election, or supervisor of the checklist whose name appears on a ballot for an elective position, other than the position of an election official, shall be disqualified from the handling of marked ballots and the counting of votes pursuant to RSA 659:58.

212:2  Election Procedure; Counting of Votes; Disqualification of Officials.  Amend RSA 659:58 to read as follows:

659:58  Disqualification of Officials.  Any election official[, other than the moderator,] who is also a candidate for office, other than a position of an election official, shall not be allowed to remain in the area designated for the counting of votes within the guardrail during the counting of votes for an office for which he is a candidate.  Such official shall disqualify himself from election duties relating to the tabulation of votes; and the moderator shall appoint an assistant who shall take the same oath as, serve in the same capacity as, and have all the powers of the election official who is disqualified until such official may properly return.  The moderator may assign any election official disqualified pursuant to this section to other duties not related to the tabulation of votes.

212:3  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

 

Approved: June 17, 2022

Effective Date: August 16, 2022