Campaign

Republicans file motion to intervene in DNC lawsuit over New Hampshire voting law

by Julia Mueller - 01/17/24 3:33 PM ET

FILE – Voters fill out their ballots at a primary polling place, Feb. 29, 2020, in North Charleston, S.C. Democrats elevated South Carolina to the top of their presidential primary calendar, leapfrogging Iowa and New Hampshire. Republicans, meanwhile, could potentially have two homegrown South Carolina presidential candidates in the race, a prospect that has already caused friction among the state’s GOP circles of supporters. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the New Hampshire GOP filed a motion on Wednesday to intervene in the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) lawsuit over a voting law in the Granite State.

The Republican groups are asking to become parties in the case to defend New Hampshire Senate Bill 418, an election law requiring those who register to vote without a photo ID on election day to send in qualifying documentation within seven days to keep their ballot from being thrown out.

The DNC sued New Hampshire officials over the law last month, arguing it will disenfranchise voters in the state — including young people, working families and other key voting groups.

The Republican groups argue in their new filing that the relief sought by the DNC would “directly harm the legal rights and interests” of the RNC and NHRSC, as well as their registered members and voters.

“It speaks volumes that as Americans struggle with an unprecedented border crisis and crushing inflation, the Biden campaign and DNC are laser-focused on gutting voter ID in New Hampshire,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement, adding Democrats are making elections “less secure.”

“The RNC and NHGOP are proud to fight in court to protect elections in the Granite State and defend voter ID, which a vast majority of Americans support,” McDaniel said.

The DNC lawsuit also has the backing of President Biden’s reelection campaign. Last month, Biden’s campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez argued the New Hampshire law is an “unacceptable embrace of the election fraud hysteria championed by Donald Trump.”