The composition of the new NH commission on voter confidence questioned
Questions are being raised about the makeup of the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s new Voter Confidence Commission. Over time, more Americans and Granite Staters have said they lost confidence in elections, a trend that does not bode well for the future of the representative government. The new commission aims to reverse this trend. The commission’s work will begin next week with a statewide listening tour. – The side-by-side contrast was on full display in the first committee meeting, with Open Democracy‘s Olivia Zink and conservative election watchdog Ken Eyring sitting next to each other. Eyring won’t say who he thinks won the 2020 presidential election, but he says it doesn’t matter to the commission’s work. “I don’t think it’s fair or safe to say I’m skeptical,” Eyring said. “I never presented that there was anything wrong with our electoral process in New Hampshire.” Zink hopes the commission can restore some confidence, but she fears the process could be hijacked. the anger that exists around the election will come out in the commission,” she said. In the meantime, activists are calling on the secretary of state to add members to the commission to better reflect the diversity of populations. “People who abstain from voting because they are unsure whether they are completely sure of the rules – that can represent thousands of people,” said Louise Spencer, of the Kent Street Coalition. “So this commission has to really reach out to those people and inspire confidence in those people as well.” The commission’s scope of work, and ultimately its findings, are relatively open-ended, with a co-chair saying on Monday, “We’ll see where we are when we’re done.” people,” commissioner Jim Splaine said.
Questions are being raised about the makeup of New Hampshire’s new Secretary of State’s Voter Confidence Commission.
Over time, more Americans and Granite Staters have said they have lost faith in elections, a trend that does not bode well for the future of representative government. The new commission aims to reverse this trend.
The commission’s work will begin next week with a statewide listening tour.
“We will allow differing opinions to be put side by side,” said Dick Swett, co-chairman of the commission.
This side-by-side contrast was on full display during the commission’s first meeting, with Open Democracy’s Olivia Zink and conservative election watchdog Ken Eyring sitting next to each other.
Eyring won’t say who he thinks won the 2020 presidential election, but he says it doesn’t matter to the commission’s work.
“I don’t think it’s fair or safe to say I’m skeptical,” Eyring said. “I never presented that there was anything wrong with our electoral process in New Hampshire.”
Zink hopes the commission can restore some confidence, but she fears the process could be hijacked.
“I fear that some of the partisan rhetoric and some of the anger that exists around the election will show up in the commission,” she said.
In the meantime, activists are calling on the secretary of state to add members to the commission to better reflect the diversity of populations.
“People abstaining from voting because they are unsure whether they are completely sure of the rules – that can add up to thousands of people,” said Louise Spencer of the Kent Street Coalition. “So this commission really needs to reach out to those people and inspire confidence in those people as well.”
The scope of the commission’s work, and ultimately its findings, are relatively open-ended, with a co-chair saying on Monday: “We’ll see where we are when we’re done.”
“It’s a tough goal, which is to try to bring people together,” said commissioner Jim Splaine.