A bill the N.H. Legislature passed that would require people registering to vote to produce documents such as a birth certificate or passport is in a kind of limbo.

These requirements won’t apply in the Sept. 10 state primary and may not be in force for the Nov. 5 general election either.

Three months after Republican lawmakers narrowly passed House Bill 1569, Gov. Chris Sununu hasn't signed it into law. It’s not clear if he intends to sign it, but the bill hasn’t even made it to his desk yet.

Normally, routine procedures call for the House speaker and the Senate president to sign off on a bill first.

House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, signed HB 1569 on July 10, and the bill was sent to Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, for his signature the same day. But as of Monday, the bill remained unsigned on Bradley's desk, according to N.H. Secretary of State David Scanlan.

Bradley did not return a request for comment Monday on the delay.

If the bill eventually gets to Sununu, and if he signs it, the measure would go into effect 60 days later.

Scanlan said he isn’t sure why Bradley hasn’t acted.

“That’s a political question I can’t answer,” he said.

Scanlan said he expects HB 1569 to be challenged in court if it becomes a law.  

The measure would do away with current procedures that allow people without documentation to sign an affidavit attesting that they are qualified to vote in New Hampshire.

Scanlan said it would be difficult to educate voters about the new provisions in the waning days before the presidential election. Election officials would also need new training on what citizenship documentation could be accepted.

“We would have to set up resources to resolve those issues as best we can,” he said. “The biggest problem with citizenship is that there is no national central database that we can access that will determine if somebody is a citizen or not.”

Scanlan said he has had frank discussions with Sununu about the bill.  

Opponents say many people don’t have a birth certificate or passport at their fingertips when they want to register to vote, and that it can be time-consuming and expensive to obtain these documents.

New Hampshire law already requires voters to be U.S. citizens, and Scanlan said that beyond a few isolated incidents, he’s not aware of people who aren't citizens trying to vote in this state.

Because New Hampshire offers voters the chance to register immediately before they vote, it has an exemption from the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, also known as the Motor Voter Act.

That exemption could be jeopardized if the state were to require people to provide proof of their citizenship before voting, according to Henry Klementowicz, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire.

In testimony to the Legislature, he said the Motor Voter Act includes a series of federal registration requirements that could cost more than $6 million to implement in New Hampshire.

Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Windham, the sponsor of HB 1569, said he wouldn’t be disappointed if it isn't in effect in time for the Nov. 5 general election.

“Then there would be plenty of time to adjust to it before the next election,” Lynn said. “The most important thing to me is that the law becomes effective at some point.”

He said it’s hard to assess how often people who aren't citizens try to vote.

“Is it a significant number beyond one or two? We don’t really know the answer to that, number one,” Lynn said. “And number two, the other thing that is a real concern to me is that, looking forward, with the open border, we have more and more illegal aliens coming in.”

According to Pew Research Center estimates, the number of immigrants in the United States without authorization was 11 million in 2022, which is below a peak of 12.2 million in 2007.

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