Sen. Keith Murphy’s bill would require towns to provide a polling place for every 20,000 registered voters in presidential-year general elections

Senator Keith Murphy introduced Senate Bill 103 on behalf of the prime sponsor, saying the measure would require towns and cities to provide at least one polling place for every 20,000 registered voters in general elections held in presidential years unless a town submits and receives approval for a plan to accommodate more voters at a single location.

The bill’s stated goal is to reduce long lines and make it easier for voters to get to the polls and complete their ballots, Murphy told the committee. "You may recall last November on election day, there were some widespread media reports of a community that had lengthy lines to vote," Murphy said, citing reports of waits longer than an hour.

Secretary of State David Scanlon testified in support of the bill’s intent but urged the committee to consider a fuller package of measures to address crowding. Scanlon said the 20,000 threshold in the draft is a starting point and that a lower number—15,000 or 12,000—might be appropriate after committee discussion. He also described an administrative waiver process that would let towns keep a single large polling place if they submit a plan that explains how they will expedite voting on election day.

Officials from Derry described their local experience. Derry Town Clerk Tina Gilbert (testifying as town clerk) told the committee the town had almost 22,000 voters on the checklist and recorded 18,148 votes on election day. Gilbert said Derry used 22 poll pads, 28 assistant supervisors of the checklist, about 1,400 parking places and 54 poll workers, and that the average voter spent about eight minutes inside the polling place once parked. "Other than when we first opened at 7 a.m., my already registered voters did not wait more than 15 or 20 minutes once they had parked their car to vote," Gilbert said, while also noting traffic and site-access issues around the town rotary.

Derry Moderator Dave Nelson endorsed the clerk’s account but cautioned that adding a second polling place can introduce other problems—staffing, training and locating a second site with adequate parking and access. "I'm willing to do anything that we can reasonably do to make voting quicker, but I'm not sure that simply opening up a second spot will help," Nelson said.

Committee members asked whether other remedies—more ballot-counting or check-in machines, parking plans, moderator training and pre-election testing—would address the delays. Scanlon and local officials said those steps can shorten lines and urged a holistic approach; Scanlon said the state planned moderator trainings and retreats before the next statewide elections.

The committee did not vote on SB 103 during the hearing and indicated staff and the sponsor would continue discussions about threshold levels and waiver criteria. Senators said they expect to work with the sponsor and the Secretary of State’s office to identify objective standards towns could use when requesting waivers.

Votes at the hearing: none. The committee left SB 103 pending for further work and amendment.