{"id":340,"date":"2008-11-04T19:07:15","date_gmt":"2008-11-04T23:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/?p=340"},"modified":"2017-11-21T14:37:47","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T19:37:47","slug":"voters-may-be-challenged-judge-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/2008\/11\/04\/voters-may-be-challenged-judge-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Voters May be Challenged Judge Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QRLIky175Wk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If the above video does not appear on your device, use this direct link:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/QRLIky175Wk\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/QRLIky175Wk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>MANCHESTER \u2013 A judge ruled today that political party observers of same-day voter registration tables at polling places should be allowed to stand close enough \u201cto see and hear\u201d the process.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Gillian Abramson did not set a specific distance, saying it is up to local officials to make that decision.<\/p>\n<p>Her ruling came this afternoon in response to an emergency petition filed by the New Hampshire Republican Party alleging that its observers have been denied \u201creasonable access\u201d to same-day registration tables.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem is that our observers in the polling places have been denied reasonable access to the same-day registration tables,\u201d said GOP attorney James Merrill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cManchester has been a problem, and it\u2019s been statewide, and we\u2019re trying to work through the confusion as to what\u2019s permissible,\u201d Merrill said. \u201cWe\u2019re asking the court to grant us reasonable access to observe the process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Merrill said that polling is \u201cpublic under the Right-to-Know Law and we need to be in a position to observe the process, and we\u2019re trying to ge the court to acknowledge that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Merrill said that reasonable access means \u201can ability to stand in a place to observe the registration process occurring. I\u2019ve gotten feedback where we had people stationed 40 feet away from the registration table,\u201d which he said is too far away to adequately observe the process.<\/p>\n<p>Merrill said Judge Gillian Abramson presided at the hearing. He said Charles Douglas represented the GOP, Andru Volinsky the Democratic Party and Anne Edwards of the Attorney General\u2019s Office appeared for the state.<\/p>\n<p>In an emergency petition filed at midday, the Republicans asked the court to direct the secretary of state \u201cto provide designated polling challengers meaningful access to same day registration tables at polling places throughout New Hampshire. Such access is presently being denied and depriving citizens of New Hampshire\u201d of their right under the state constitution and state law \u201cto challenge voter registration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The suit alleges that the state Attorney General\u2019s Office \u201chas refused to intervene to remedy the situation,\u201d and the party requests an emergency order.<\/p>\n<p>In an affidavit, Nancy DeAngelis said she was stationed at Manchester\u2019s Ward 11 early this morning but was told by a registration table worker that \u201cno one was allowed to see or hear the same day registration because it would \u2018violate privacy.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said she was eventually allowed to stand \u201cin a location modestly closer to the same day registration area.\u201d But she said the vantage point did not allow her \u201csufficient access\u201d to the area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a result of the restrictions placed on me at Ward 11, I am left to guess as to whether or not registrants are qualified to vote as New Hampshire citizens. My ability to challenge registrations is, and has been, unduly undermined as a result of this hindrance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>DeAngelis said that in 2004, she was allowed to stand behind the same-day registration table in a different ward and was able to see and hear the process.<\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/>\nState Democratic Chairman Raymond Buckley<\/strong> said before the ruling that his party &#8220;really is not taking this terribly seriously. It doesn\u2019t have an impact on people\u2019s ability to register and vote, which is what our concerns are.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It seems to be kind of a silly thing,&#8221; Buckley said. &#8220;But what else have (the Republicans) got to do today?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>###<\/p>\n<p><em>Note: If you look at who Ray Buckley is you will see we have reason to worry. Caution: Strong Language<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Re5o5tY_NtE\">Ray Buckley, NH Democrat Party Chair<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If the above video does not appear on your device, use this direct link: https:\/\/youtu.be\/QRLIky175Wk MANCHESTER \u2013 A judge ruled today that political party observers of same-day voter registration tables at polling places should be allowed to stand close enough \u201cto see and hear\u201d the process. Judge Gillian Abramson did not set a specific distance, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-nh","category-vote-fraud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5098,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions\/5098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnht.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}