Acanthaceae_Square t1_itrmk5x wrote on October 25, 2022 at 8:08 PM

Reply to comment by 4ever48 in Constitutional Convention ballot question by niateratez

As someone that worked on legislation on what should be a very low hanging fruit bipartisan topic the past 5 years, the average NH voter doesn’t really know what’s going on in a meaningful way, and tends to go with what seems familiar. A big part of this imo is the absurdly large size of NH’s government and the outdated processes NH uses to run the government/pass legislation- it’s too much for people to keep up with, especially across multiple issues. NH voters aren’t necessarily inherently untrustworthy, but too much is asked of them in order to stay informed citizens, and that is scary and allows scary things to happen.

Cool-Shame8373 t1_its960j wrote on October 25, 2022 at 10:41 PM

Absolutely agree with you that NH state government is absurdly large and unwieldy. But NH voters believe it can only get worse instead of better. I vote on the basis of hope.

OldTurkeyTail t1_itsjdn5 wrote on October 25, 2022 at 11:58 PM

>NH state government is absurdly large and unwieldy.

This first random link has NH state spending as 46th in the nation.

https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/per-capita-state-spending/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Per%20Capita%20State%20Spending%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D

4ever48 t1_itug1rh wrote on October 26, 2022 at 12:07 PM

Large & Unwieldy != Expensive The members of the state legislature (the largest legislative body in the free world) get paid a whopping $100 / annum

OldTurkeyTail t1_itvasjh wrote on October 26, 2022 at 3:55 PM

But cost does go up with multiple layers of bureaucracy. Imho, there are areas in which the state has too much power, but overall NH government is reasonably efficient (at least compared to other states).

That said, our decision making process is pretty slow in NH, and imho a cumbersome process is feature, and not a bug.

4ever48 t1_itx9agy wrote on October 26, 2022 at 11:42 PM

Well, yes and no.

NH government is reasonably INeffecient. And if you like that, this is the state for you. I became disillusioned and dissatisfied through my own personal experience as a poll worker (which I wouldn't recommend to my worst enemy). Example: Do you know why we have same day registration in NH??? I found out that this is a loophole in the Federal Motor Voter Act. You can't register to vote here in NH when you go to renew you driver's license. But you CAN do same day registration on November 8. Do you understand how rampant fraudulent voting is at the polls because of this??

We do not have vote-by-mail in NH. Instead, we have the cumbersome and costly alternative of Absentee ballots. This is ONLY a feature, if your intent is to supress Constitutional right to vote. Why would anyone WANT that??

Guess, we'll have to agree to disagree.

barkerd427 t1_itt9vic wrote on October 26, 2022 at 3:28 AM

Comparing us to other states doesn't prove the point I think you're trying to make. Just look at how much it's grown over just the last couple decades.