Primary Rights Established By Title III

Read Title III to learn of each right; the following is a summary of the primary rights:

• The right to use a voting system (paper ballots or starting in 2006 an electronic voting machine designed to assist voters with disabilities) that:
  • Permits the voter to verify in a private and independent manner the votes they have selected before the ballot is cast and counted (currently this means a right to check your ballot while in the voting booth to ensure you marked it correctly).
  • Permits the voter to change their ballot and to correct any error in a private and independent manner, including permitting the voter to get a replacement ballot (currently this means that your moderator must give you a replacement ballot if you ask for one).
  • Provides voters with education on the effect of casting multiple votes for an office (currently each polling place should have signs instructing voters how to properly mark their ballots and a sign on overvotes telling voters that if they mark more candidates for a particular office than instructed in the sentence on the ballot "Vote for not more than __," that the votes for that office will not be counted).
  • Provides voters with instructions on how to correct the error of marking too many candidates for a particular office by obtaining a replacement ballot (currently each polling place must have the voter instruction sign and the overvote signs described above).
  • Protects the privacy of the voter and the confidentiality of the ballot whenever any notification is made to a voter of an overvote on their ballot.
  • Provides an audit capacity that can be used in a recount (currently New Hampshire requires that each voter vote on a paper ballot, the paper ballot provides the required audit capacity).
• The polling place and the voting system (booths, ballots, and starting in 2006 the electronic voting machine) must be accessible for individuals with disabilities, including non-visual accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation including privacy and independence.
• Should any New Hampshire town or city become subject to the requirement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that ballots be provided in alternative languages, the voting system must provide alternative language accessibility (currently New Hampshire is not subject to this requirement).
• The voting system must have an error rate in counting ballots that complies with federal standards.
• The State must have a uniform definition of what constitutes a vote (currently by State law each polling place has voting instruction signs that define what constitutes a vote for the type of ballot used at that polling place).
• The State must have a uniform definition of what constitutes a vote (currently by State law each polling place has voting instruction signs that define what constitutes a vote for the type of ballot used at that polling place).
• Each polling place must have the following posted in a manner accessible to all voters:
  • A sample ballot.
  • A warrant that includes the date and times when the polls will be open.
  • Instructions on how to vote.
  • Instructions for absentee voter registration and voting.
  • General information on voting rights under applicable Federal and State law
  • Contact information for the Attorney General's Office, with instructions on how to file a complaint.
  • Information on Federal and State laws that prohibit voting fraud.
• A mechanism must be in place so that if a court orders that a polling place remain open after the scheduled hour for closing, each ballot cast after the scheduled closing is marked. (New Hampshire has not had a court order that a polling place be kept open later than the scheduled hours; should this occur Moderators are required to mark each ballot cast during these extended hours with the letters "EH").
• By 2006 the State must establish a single, uniform, nondiscriminatory, official, centralized, computerized statewide database of registered voters that is used to create the voter checklists used on election day.
• Voters who register by mail must provide copies of the documents they use to prove identity when registering or present those documents if they vote in person the first time they vote. (New Hampshire limits registration by mail to those who qualify to vote by absentee ballot, therefore this requirement does not affect most voters.)