After weeks of grassroots activism, State House rallies and nationwide media attention, a proposal to have New Hampshire reject new driver’s license rules faces a tough vote in the state Senate tomorrow.

The bill, which would require the state to opt out of the federal “Real ID” program, passed the House last month and has spurred a groundswell of public support.

Privacy advocates, libertarians and evangelical Christians – among others – argue that the new license requirements pose a threat to personal privacy and violate New Hampshire’s “Live Free or Die” ethos.

But the bill could run into trouble in the state Senate, where it’s scheduled for a vote tomorrow. Senate President Ted Gatsas, a Manchester Republican, opposes the bill and says Real ID critics exaggerate their claims. And several Washington officials, including New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg and First District Rep. Jeb Bradley, have been urging state senators to support Real ID. They say the new rules would keep terrorists and immigrants from entering the country illegally.

Some Senate watchers speculated yesterday that the bill would be tabled, essentially placing it in legislative limbo.

“There’s a solid bloc of supporters on either side,” said Claire Ebel, executive director of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, which opposes Real ID. “There are several senators who, true to the New Hampshire tradition, don’t like the federal government telling us what to do. But at the same time, they’re not sure how far they want to step out into the spotlight.”

Under Real ID, states must adopt tighter requirements for handing out driver’s licenses, including verifying birth certificates, Social Security numbers, passports and the immigration status of applicants. The licenses must be machine-readable, and state databases must be linked into a national database. States have until May 2008 to adopt the new standards. States that fail to do so may find their residents’ licenses rejected at airports and federal buildings.

The bill before the Senate tomorrow calls the Real ID regulations “contrary and repugnant” to the New Hampshire and U.S. Constitutions and forbids the state Division of Motor Vehicles from changing the way it distributes driver’s licenses. New Hampshire is one of two states to receive a grant to pre-test Real ID, making it eligible for $3 million to overhaul the DMV computer system.

Real ID has brought together strange political bedfellows in New Hampshire: Christian conservatives, liberal Democrats, gun-rights supporters and privacy activists have all argued against the new license rules. And the campaign here has attracted national attention. Rep. Neal Kurk, a Weare Republican who led the anti-Real ID effort in the House, said he’s received e-mail messages and phone calls from across the state and the country.

“I don’t know why this has become such a center of attention,” Kurk said, “but it obviously strikes a note with Americans. The people have picked up on the superstructure (of Real ID) and suspect that it incrementally will become a serious threat to our civil liberties.”

Several Republican senators interviewed yesterday said they were leaning against the anti-Real ID bill, in part because of Gregg and Bradley’s urging.

“I think I would feel a hell of a lot different before 9/11,” said Sen. Robert Flanders, a Republican from Antrim. “But if we don’t do this, and all the other states do, we’re going to be a haven for terrorists and that kind of thing.”

Flanders said he’d received an e-mail from Gregg and a phone call from Bradley urging him to support Real ID. He said he’d received a personal assurance from state Safety Commissioner Richard Flynn, who would administer the state’s Real ID program, that new licenses would not be used to gather residents’ personal information.

Gatsas said opponents to Real ID have exaggerated the program’s potential flaws. He said New Hampshire residents risk being singled out at airport security screenings if the state rejects the federal licensing requirements.

“It’s not a ‘real ID’; it’s a driver’s license,” Gatsas said. “In New Hampshire, it’s not a big change. People believe it’s Big Brother looking over your shoulder.”

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