Election Protection Task Force
Nonpartisan Open Democracy works to keep elections FAIR for all, and to and allow all eligible voters to exercise their RIGHT to vote. This year, our work is more important than ever.
In the last two weeks before the 2020 election, we are mobilizing our Regional 
Democracy Teams, volunteers from Protect the Vote, and Open Democracy supporters to form an Election Protection Task Force to observe the election in and around their home towns.
This Sunday night, Oct. 18, 7 p.m. via Zoom and phone, we are holding an information session and training for all interested citizens to help protect the vote. We ask that you sign up in advance for what we expect to be a 60 to 90 minute discussion and training.
Below are the roles in the task force, both from home and at local in-person locations. When you register for the meeting, please tell us what role, or roles, fit your schedule and situation best.
- Pre-Election Checklist/Absentee Pre-Processing Monitors - (Inide, in person, your local town hall) Final Supervisors of the Checklist meetings are required 6-13 days prior to the election and decisions and voters can use that opportunity to register. Then beginning the Thursday before election day, pre-processing of absentee ballots begins. In both these cases, your job is to listen and observe, making sure everyone follows the rules. Recently, a person's registration was briefly rejected due an Arabic-sounding name, despite having all of the proper voting documentation.
- Pre-Election/Election Day Media Monitors - (from home) Monitoring news media and social media for misinformation and disinformation, and amplifying positive posts (in-home activity). We need citizens to monitor their local newspapers and radio for mistakes on voting information, and monitor local Facebook and other social media groups to identify errors and report any disinformation intended to suppress the vote. We are teamed up with Common Cause to evaluate and report this information.
- Election Day Roaming monitors - (Outdoors, In person, towns around you) You'll be traveling around to several towns to monitor outside the polls activities, talking with voters and visibility folks outside the polls. Looking for voter suppression/intimidation issues, logistical issues, and reporting to the SOS, AG or other authorities as necessary.
- Election Day Poll Observers - (Inside, in person, your town's polls) Stationed inside the polls, looking for voter suppression, violations of mask policies, inconsistent or incorrect rules, or disenfranchising of voters.
If you haven't been able to participate in the Regional Democracy Teams, this is an excellent, short-term action that is SO VERY IMPORTANT to the integrity of our election.
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Below, tell us in which Election Protection Task Force role you'd be interested, using the job descriptions above.
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After saving your choice, a confirmation email will come with training links and resources to prepare you for helping.
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We'll be in touch shortly via our "Protect the Vote" Google Group
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When you're done, you'll be sent to our Election Protection Task Force training and tools page
How to Vote by Absentee Ballot in New Hampshire
Vote-by-mail absentee ballots have been used in New Hampshire since 1775, and 7-10% of ballots cast in NH elections are by absentee ballot. Absentee ballots are traditionally used when the voter will be out of state or far away from their town, on religious holidays, and other reasons specified below. There are two applications, one for town elections, and another for state and federal elections. For any questions specific to your town, your city or town clerk is the primary election officials dealing with absentee ballots.
Those issues which pertain specifically to absentee voting during the Covid 19 pandemic are listed in dark red, below.
Voting by Absentee Ballot in NH - Normal Circumstances
Hampshire may apply for an absentee ballot with only one of four official "excuses." - Physical disability (and for 2020, concern with COVID-19)
- Religious observance
- Absence from City on day of election
- Employment obligations. For the purpose of absentee voting, the term "employment" shall include the care of children and infirm adults, with or without compensation.
Voting by Absentee Ballot in NH - Voting in 2020 Elections with"Physical Disability" OR "Concern with Covid 19" excuse
With municipal elections this spring, a state primary on September 8, 2020 and the general election on November 3, 2020, we are urging voters who have concerns about voting in person to vote by mail with an absentee ballot.
On April 10, 2020, the Secretary of State and Attorney General of NH issued issued a statement allowing any voter with a concern of COVID-19 to vote by absentee using the "physical disability" excuse in 2020.
Then with an action by the NH legislature, and signed by Gov. Sununu, this was updated on July 18, 2020 with an amended absentee ballot form, at right. This is now the current form you should use.
Hate to give you bad news, but I did find broken links on your page as well. In the paragraph “if you have further questions” your link to “voting during the COVID-19 state of emergency” is broken, probably due to the revision of the SOS website. Same broken link later in the paragraph “get an application online”.
Here's the a portion of the April statement allowing the absentee ballot to be used for concerns with COVID-19
"With respect to any upcoming municipal elections, we offer the following guidance as to who is eligible to vote by absentee ballot in light of the current public health crisis. As explained below, in light of the current public health state of emergency, Emergency Orders #16 and #26, and current public health guidance on social distancing and avoiding being in public in groups of 10 or more, all voters have a reasonable ground to conclude that a "physical disability" exists within the meaning of RSA 657:1. Therefore,all voters may request an absentee ballot on that basis." To read the entire memorandum, [click here.]
Subsequent statements by the Secretary of State William Gardner and Governor Sununu clarified that for the duration of 2020, any registered voter wishing to receive an absentee ballot for a municipal, state or federal election could get one. In mid-May, the Secretary of State also clarified that voters with Covid 19 concerns may also register to vote by mail. Call your local town clerk's office for more information on on what copies of documents and identification will be necessary, or check "no" answering whether you are a registered voter on the absentee ballot request application, and a voter registration application will be sent to you.
If you have concerns about voting in person during the Covid-19 emergency, we recommend you request your absentee ballot immediately. Don't wait until September; you can fill out and send your application for September and November. This will aid the town clerk and election workers in processing an unprecedented number of ballots. Your ballot won't arrive until a few weeks prior to the election.
If you filled out and sent in the previous NH Absentee Ballot Application for 2020 Elections . . .
If you have already filled out the previous form, applying for absentee ballots for September 8 and November 3 with two forms, you DO NOT have to fill out the new July 2020 form. Your previous application, where you checked the "disability" excuse still qualifies you to receive your ballots.
If you have further questions
If you have further questions about voting by absentee, visit the Secretary of State web page created in June with COVID-related information, Voting During the COVID-19 State of Emergency or contact your local town or city clerk.
Requesting an Absentee Ballot Application in NH
Requests for absentee ballots must:
- Be made by filling out an official absentee ballot request form
- Requesting a minimum of 10 days in advance if you want it to be sent by mail
- Going directly to town hall on the Monday before election day before your clerk's office closes
- Made in writing with the request form, not by phone
- And contain your physical "wet" - as in ink - signature. Electronic signatures are not accepted by the State of New Hampshire for voting purposes.
- You may download and fill out your form electronically (with PDF software, for instance), but you must print out the form, and sign it in ink.
- Once you've signed the form, you can mail back the paper copy, or scan the document with your ink signature and fax or email it as an attachment.
- If you don't have a printer, request a paper absentee application from your town clerk.
Get an Application from Your Town Clerk You may get an application in person at your city or town clerk's office, or an application can be mailed to you or emailed as a PDF to you upon request. We have heard that some town clerks refuse to mail requests, and require you to come in person. This is not required and you are within your rights to request that it be mailed.
Get an Application Online For state & federal elections, you may find the 2020 Application for State Election Absentee Ballot at the official NH Secretary of State web page. This is a two-page application. Applications for absentee ballots for local elections will only be available at your town's website. There is also a new page at the Secretary of State's website called Voting During the COVID-19 State of Emergency and the 2020 absentee ballot application which contains a "concern for COVID-19 checkbox.
You may get an absentee ballot application at your Town or City Clerk's office until 5:00 P.M. on the day before election day. To get an absentee ballot for state and federal elections by mail, fill out and mail or fax the official absentee ballot application well in advance of the election to your town or city clerk's office. You are not required to have a photo ID to vote absentee.
While anyone may return another voter’s absentee ballot application, it’s important to know that absentee ballots can only be handed to the voter or mailed to the voter. Election officials are unable to hand your ballot to anyone else, regardless of their relation to you. Why only you? New Hampshire Law 657:15 specifies that it must either be mailed to or personally delivered to the applicant.
For uniformed service members who vote (UOCAVA) in NH elections, there is a separate Federal Post Card Application for Voter Registration and Absentee Ballot Request (FPCA) form you should use to request a ballot. This is a two-page application.
