To the editor:
I found it interesting to see Barbara Miller, selectwoman from Peterborough, posting a letter to the editor titled “Selectwoman says vote for Kennedy.”
From the New Hampshire Municipal Association: “RSA 659:44 prohibits electioneering at a polling place by any election officer. The term “election officer” is defined as “any moderator, deputy moderator, assistant moderator, town clerk, deputy town clerk, city clerk, deputy city clerk, ward clerk, selectman, supervisor of the checklist, registrar, or deputy registrar.”
— RSA 652:14.
Although the heading of the statute would seemingly limit the prohibited electioneering by election officials to activities at a polling place, the NH Attorney General’s Office has interpreted RSA 659:44 as prohibiting any official action by an election official to endorse a candidate for office. According to the Attorney General’s Office, it is a violation of RSA 659:44 for a Select Board to endorse a candidate for office while acting in their official capacity. However, an individual Select Board member could endorse a candidate in her individual capacity.
The heading of Barbara Miller’s posting hardly makes this appear to be an endorsement in her individual capacity.
Joseph Applewood
New Ipswich