Sununu signs bill to provide voting law information to NH students

House Bill 1014 requires that civics instruction “include information on the laws governing election and voting” in New Hampshire. (Kate Brindley | New Hampshire Bulletin)

New Hampshire public and private high schools will soon be required to give voting information to students, under a law signed by Gov. Chris Sununu this month.

House Bill 1014 requires that civics instruction “include information on the laws governing election and voting” in New Hampshire. That information would supplement what is currently required to be taught in schools for history and civics, including the structures of the New Hampshire Constitution and U.S. Constitution, and the role and function of government.

Currently, the State Board of Education is required to distribute copies of the state constitution and state voting laws to middle schools and high schools for civics instruction. But HB 1014 would directly mandate that schools use that information to bolster “the role, opportunities, and responsibilities of a citizen to engage in civic activity.”

The bill comes as part of an effort by some to increase participation in elections among young people. Voting rights advocates have noted that only 15 percent of 18-year-olds in the state were registered to vote in the 2022 midterm elections.

Rep. Mark Paige, an Exeter Democrat, noted that students with disabilities who have individualized education plans already receive information about registering to vote.

“This then just expands that to every student in the state,” he said in a May 7 Senate hearing.

But some voting advocates have criticized the bill for not going far enough in requiring that high school students be directly taught how to register to vote. Originally, the bill required high schools to “adopt policies to promote student voter registration”; the House amended that to mandate that students are instructed in the laws instead.

In an unrelated section added by the Senate, the bill requires that any public school district, town, or city use the official name for state holidays – effectively barring those entities from calling “Columbus Day” “Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” The bill takes effect Sept. 12.

HB 1014 was one of a handful of voting-related bills signed by Sununu July 12. The governor also signed House Bill 1098 , which allows town clerks, assistant clerks, and clerks pro tem to deliver absentee ballots to nursing homes and other elder care facilities.

And Sununu signed House Bill 243 , which requires that town and city election officials allow the public to observe the use of any voting tabulators as they are used on election night, and directs those officials to post the printout of the machine’s tabulated results within 60 minutes of running the machines.

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