Opinion of the Justices
To the Honorable House of Representatives:
The following response is respectfully returned:
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Senate Bill (SB) 436 proposes to amend
I. A person who is 17 years of age, who otherwise meets the eligibility requirements ofRSA 654:1 ,1, may register to vote at a state primary election or a presidential primary election preceding a general election at which the person will be 18 years of age. Such person may only register at the polling place on the applicable election day.
II. If the supervisors of the checklist determine that the person registering under this section is qualified to vote, the person shall be entitled to vote as if his or her name is on the checklist. The supervisors shall retain the person’s voter registration form and shall add the person’s name to the checklist at their meeting next following the person’s eighteenth birthday.
Finally, SB 436 proposes to amend
We have been asked to give our opinion on two questions: first, whether enactment of SB 436 would “violate Part I, Article 11 of the Constitution of New Hampshire,” and second, whether enactment of SB 436 would “violate Part I, Article 28-a, of the Constitution of New Hampshire.” We answer the first question in the affirmative and the second question in the negative. Although those submitting memoranda address the issue, we have not been asked and therefore do not opine upon whether SB 436 infringes upon the associational rights of political parties guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
*268 I. Part I, Article 11
Part I, Article 11 of the New Hampshire Constitution provides, in pertinent part: “All elections are to be free, and every inhabitant of the state of 18 years of age and upwards shall have an equal right to vote in any election.” To interpret the meaning of this provision, we examine its purpose and intent.
See Baines v. N.H. Senate President,
At its inception in 1784, Part I, Article 11 provided: “All elections ought to be free, and every inhabitant of the State, having the proper qualifications, has equal right to elect and be elected into office.”
Fischer v. Governor,
Before Part I, Article 11 was amended in 1976, it did not contain an age qualification, but rather stated that every inhabitant with the “proper qualifications” had an equal right to vote.
See Fischer,
Part II, Article 28 was enacted in 1784 and provided that male inhabitants twenty-one years of age and older who paid their poll tax were eligible to vote for senators. See Marshall, supra at 148. Other provisions of the constitution provided that those qualified to vote for senators were also qualified to vote for representatives, the governor and councilors. Id. In 1958, the reference to “male” inhabitants was removed. Id.
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The 1974 constitutional convention voted to amend Part I, Article 11 in several respects and to repeal Part II, Article 28 because the amended Part I, Article 11 would incorporate the age qualification.
See
Journal of Constitutional Convention 465 (June 26,1974), 521-23 (Appendix A);
Fischer,
The ratified amendments had their genesis in Resolution 86 of the 1974 constitutional convention. See Journal of Constitutional Convention 584 (Index). Resolution 86 was a resolution “[r]elating to the qualifications of voters and the administration of elections.” Journal of Constitutional Convention 33 (May 15,1974), 434 (June 20,1974), 521 (Appendix A). Its stated purpose was, in part, to provide “that the minimum age of voters be reduced to eighteen.” Journal of Constitutional Convention 434 (June 20, 1974), 521 (Appendix A).
Resolution 86 was referred to the committee on the bill of rights. Journal of Constitutional Convention 33 (May 15,1974). The report of the committee stated that another purpose of the resolution was to “simplif[y] the present wording of the Constitution.” Journal of Constitutional Convention 177 (June 12,1974).
As reported out of committee, the resolution proposed amending Part I, Article 11 to state, in pertinent part, that “[a]ll elections are to be free, and every inhabitant of the state of eighteen years of age and upwards shall have an equal right to vote in any election.” Journal of Constitutional Convention 178 (June 12, 1974). The text of Resolution 86 ultimately adopted by the constitutional convention retained this language. Journal of Constitutional Convention 521 (Appendix A). Part VI of the resolution proposed repealing Part II, Article 28. Journal of Constitutional Convention 523 (Appendix A).
The ballot question regarding age at voting submitted to the citizenry in 1976 reflected the convention’s intent that the amendments to Part I, Article 11 and Part II, Article 28 lower the minimum voting age to eighteen. Question eight inquired, in pertinent part: “Are you in favor of amending the Constitution to make the following changes relating to elections: (a) to reduce the minimum age of voters to eighteen.”
Fischer,
This history reveals that the intended purpose of adding an age qualification to Part I, Article 11 and deleting one from Part II, Article 28 was to lower the minimum voting age to eighteen. Whereas before Part I, Article 11 was amended in 1976 to include an age qualification, the minimum voting age contained in Part II, Article 28 was twenty-one years
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of age, after the amendments, it became eighteen years of age. Viewing the language of the 1976 amendments in light of all of the surrounding circumstances,
see Baines,
Relying upon our decision in Fischer, the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union asserts that, despite the language of Part I, Article 11, the legislature has authority to set a minimum age for voting that is lower than eighteen years of age. We disagree.
Fischer
concerned the constitutionality of
We ruled that although Part I, Article 11 disenfranchises individuals convicted of “treason, bribery, or any willful violation of the election laws,” the legislature retained the authority to disenfranchise additional individuals, such as incarcerated felons. See id. at 34, 39. We observed that the legislature, historically, had always had the authority to determine voter qualifications beyond those set forth in the constitution. See id. at 32-35. This authority was not removed, we held, when the voters voted to amend Part I, Article 11 in 1976. See id. at 38-39. To the extent that the amendments to Part I, Article 11 could be read to have removed this authority, we concluded that they were ineffective because removing this authority was not one of the stated purposes of the amendments and because voters had no notice that they were removing it. Id. at 37-39.
The legislative authority we recognized in Fischer was to define voter qualifications beyond those in Part I, Article 11. Id. at 35. We did not recognize legislative authority to define voter qualifications contradicting *271 those in Part I, Article 11. In this ease, where Part I, Article 11 establishes the minimum voting age as eighteen years of age, we conclude that the legislature has no authority to set a different minimum voting age. Indeed, contrary to the assertions of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, the legislature has not historically had the authority to set age qualifications for voters. That authority has always resided in the constitution: first in Part II, Article 28, which set the minimum voting age at twenty-one, and now in Part I, Article 11, which sets it at eighteen.
The Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives (Speaker) and President of the New Hampshire Senate (Senate President), in contrast to the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, concede that Part I, Article 11 sets the minimum voting age at eighteen. As they state: “The[ ] amendments [to Part I, Article 11] lowered to 18 the age at which one was entitled to the equal right to elect one’s elected officials.” They argue, however, that whether an individual has achieved the requisite age must be measured as of the November election. In this way, they contend, an individual who is seventeen by the time of the primary elections, but who will be eighteen as of the November election, is eligible to vote. Part I, Article 11, however, exclusively gives those who are “eighteen years of age and upwards” an “equal right to vote in any election.” Thus, the argument of the Speaker and Senate President would prevail only if a primary election is not an “election” within the meaning of Part I, Article 11.
The purpose and intent of the age qualification in Part I, Article 11 as reflected in its language and history is that it applies to all elections, including primary elections. Part I, Article 11 grants an equal right to vote in
“any
election” to those who are “eighteen years of age and upwards.” (Emphasis added.) The use of the word “any” is all-inclusive. The word “any” means “one, no matter what one : EVERY.” WEBSTER’S THIRD New International Dictionary 97 (unabridged ed. 2002). The journal of the 1974 constitutional convention further reveals that the intent of this language was, in fact, to be all-inclusive. When asked whether the proposed amendments to Part I, Article 11 applied to constitutional convention elections, Delegate Hall, the vice-chair of the bill of rights committee, explained: “The intention is that [they] will apply to all elections, whether they be for Constitutional Conventions or general primary or special elections.” Journal of Constitutional Convention 180 (June 12, 1974);
see
Journal of Constitutional Convention 58 (roster of bill of rights committee). Citizens voting on the 1976 ballot question were never notified of any intent to limit the age qualification to certain elections. Rather, they were only asked if they were in favor of “reduc[ing] the minimum age of
voters
to eighteen.”
Fischer,
To the extent that either the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union or the Speaker and Senate President assert that a primary is not an “election” within the meaning of Part I, Article 11 because it is merely a nominating process, we disagree. “[A] primary election which involves a necessary step in the choice of candidates for election . . . , and which . . . controls that choice, is an election” within the meaning of Part I, Article 11.
United States v. Classic,
The Speaker and Senate President also argue that “[preventing 17-year-olds who will be 18 years old by the date of the next general election from voting in the primary election imposes a severe restriction on these voters’ constitutionally protected equal right to elect their elected officials.” To the contrary, because Part I, Article 11 grants an equal right to vote in any election only to those who are eighteen years of age or older, individuals who are seventeen years old have no equal right to vote in any election, including a primary election.
The Speaker and Senate President also state that because, “arguably,” an individual who will be eighteen as of the date of the November elections may run for office, even though he or she is only seventeen, it would be absurd to preclude such an individual from voting in primary elections.
See
Even if we assume, without deciding, that a seventeen-year-old who will be eighteen by the time of the general election may run for an elected office, we fail to see the absurdity of precluding such an individual from voting in the primary. There is no correlation under either the State or Federal Constitutions between voting age and the age at which individuals may hold certain elective offices. Although the State Constitution sets the minimum voting age at eighteen,
see
N.H. Const. pt. I, art. 11, it prohibits anyone who is not thirty years of age from serving as either a senator or governor.
*273
See
N.H. Const. pt. II, arts. 29, 42. Similarly, although the Federal Constitution extends the right to vote to citizens who are eighteen years of age or older,
see
II. Part I, Article 28-a
Part I, Article 28-a of the New Hampshire Constitution provides:
The state shall not mandate or assign any new, expanded or modified programs or responsibilities to any political subdivision in such away as to necessitate additional local expenditures by the political subdivision unless such programs or responsibilities are fully funded by the state or unless such programs or responsibilities are approved for funding by a vote of the local legislative body of the political subdivision.
This amendment “was designed to prohibit the State from placing additional obligations on local government without either obtaining their consent or providing the necessary funding.”
N.H. Munic. Trust Workers’ Comp. Fund v. Flynn, Comm’r,
To determine whether SB 436 constitutes a mandate in contravention of Part I, Article 28-a, we first examine the language of the proposed statutes in the context of existing provisions.
See Opinion of the Justices (Solid Waste Disposal),
*274 Voting and voter registration is governed, in part, by Part I, Article 11 of the State Constitution, which, as previously discussed, gives “every inhabitant of the state of 18 years of age and upwards ... an equal right to vote in any election,” and which provides, in pertinent part, that “[v]oting registration and polling places shall be easily accessible to all persons.”
Voting and voter registration is also governed by RSA chapter 654 (1996 & Supp. 2007).
To determine whether a voter is qualified, the supervisors of the checklist or town or city clerk must require the applicant to produce proof of qualifications as provided in
If the supervisors decide to add the applicant’s name to the checklist, they must keep the original registration form.
See
These provisions reveal that SB 436 does not create any new program or require municipalities to accept a new responsibility. Even without SB
*275
436, municipalities are responsible for processing voter registrations. That SB 436 allows certain seventeen-year-olds to register and vote in primary elections “may be a new development,” but municipal responsibility for processing all voter registrations is not new.
Town of Nelson,