Gay Announces Checklist Supervisor Candidacy

By Betty Irene Gay

I am Betty Gay, or "Betty Irene Gay" on the ballot, my full legal name.  I am running for one of the three positions of Supervisor of the Checklist in Salem.  I would like to finish the last two years of Janice Habib’s term, who passed away last September after many years of service to the Town.

You may know me from Town Meeting since 1975, when we moved to Salem.  You may know me from Salemfest, which I founded nine years ago and continue to chair.  You may know me from my writing Elsie’s Column in the Observer for a year, or the articles I continue to write.  You may know me from the Garden Club Plant Sale, or the Lions, or church events.  You may know me from my adult children, Andrew Benjamin and Janabeth Benjamin Reitter.  They started in Barron School, graduated from Salem High and then from UNH and beyond.

Supervisor of the Checklist is a time-consuming job with miniscule pay, so the reason for running is purely public service.  Supervisors work in the background so their many days of service are not commended as much as they deserve.  The responsibility of a N.H. Supervisor of the Checklist starts with maintaining the list of voters so that it is accurate.

Throughout the year, Supervisors add newly registered voters’ names and they remove names as they research voters who have moved or passed away, or have not voted in the previous four years. They enter the names on the New Hampshire voter database, which is formatted as required by the Federal “Help America Vote Act of 2002.”

I hear that Salem and Windham both find using the New Hampshire voter database painfully slow.  Personally, I don’t think it ever hurts to look into possible solutions to this time-wasting problem.  The database is the state’s responsibility, but it’s the towns that pay for the extra hours of work.

Prior to each election the Supervisors send the list of voters they have maintained to the state. On election days, they answer any sticky questions about voter eligibility, and they verify the reporting of the number of ballots cast, no matter how long into the night that takes.

Recently some concerned N.H. voters brought public attention to the problem that several deceased voters were still on their town’s checklist. That often happens after frail people get moved out of town for care and voting registration is the last thing on the families’ mind.  And when they pass away, their death is reported in another city or state. Fortunately there is now a free accessible website that tracks the mention of towns in obituaries and catalogs them by state and town.

Under NH statutes, the prescribed way for voters to register is to fill out forms and show proof of US “citizenship and domicile” in the town during town office hours to the Town Clerk.  Voters can register only up until ten days prior to an election so that the Supervisors can submit the completed checklist to the state.  That 10th day, a Saturday for Tuesday elections, Supervisors of the Checklist must register voters for at least the half hour from 11 to 11:30 a.m.

For mid-week evening town meeting elections, they also must schedule a registration session at least from 7 to 7:30 pm the evening of that tenth day prior.

On election and town meeting days, it is legal in New Hampshire for an unregistered citizen to register to vote at the polls and vote that same day.  If they show up without “proof of citizenship and domicile,” current state laws require the supervisor to provide them an official state voter affidavit form.

Prospective voters only need to sign that they fulfill the New Hampshire requirements - that they are who they say they are, that they are U.S. citizens, and that they reside in town. They are then allowed to vote because the New Hampshire premise is that "everyone has the right to vote."

Obviously some voters do not like undocumented people voting without having proven their identity, residency and citizenship. Several other states deal with this issue by providing "provisional ballots." Provisional ballots are saved for a specified number of days and counted only after the voter brings accepted documentation.

As a Supervisor of the Checklist, I promise to uphold the current New Hampshire laws, even if I might favor changes. Meanwhile I look forward to keeping the citizenry apprised of current laws and pending legislation. 

I will appreciate your casting your vote for me, Betty Irene Gay.