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Committee weighs new limits and process to protect voter checklist data; clerks seek clarity on language access
Summary
Town clerks and the Secretary of State urged statutory clarification so municipal clerks use a consistent affidavit process for voter‑checklist requests; clerks also warned the bill's expanded definition (including 'language minority group') could impose unclear obligations for multilingual materials and translator services.
The Senate Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee on April 22 heard municipal clerks and Secretary of State staff urge clearer statutory guidance to protect sensitive voter-checklist data and to standardize the request process.
Elections staff told the committee that while the Secretary of State follows an affidavit-based process when releasing the statewide voter checklist for external requests, the statute is vaguer for municipal clerks and has left clerks uncertain about how to vet requesters. “We've also heard that if they have the language in statute, that was a clear directive to them…that same consistency across the board,” an elections official said, arguing the change would protect voter data without imposing undue burden on clerks.
Carol Doss, a city treasurer who chairs the clerks-and-treasurers legislative committee, said clerks welcome removal of one subjective intimidation penalty provision but worry the bill’s text adding “membership in a language minority group” to the protected-class definition lacks guardrails. “Our big concern with that is not so much providing those protections… Our big concern is how does that roll out? Will there be a requirement? How do we determine what languages are the right ones?” Doss asked.
Witnesses said the proposed statutory language would allow clerks to require a sworn affidavit for requests and provide uniform vetting guidance. They framed the change as protective — intended to prevent assembly of municipality-by-municipality checklists into consolidated lists that could be misused — and asked the committee and counsel to refine the language, particularly to specify implementation details (which languages, translation funding and training) so clerks are not left with open-ended obligations.
The committee did not adopt language in the hearing; members asked counsel to draft clarified statutory text and scheduled further discussion for the next meeting.
