Another Loss For Liot Hill As NH Judge Tosses Lawsuit Targeting Absentee Ballot Law

By Damien Fisher, NH Journal

Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill’s scheme to get a national Democratic law firm to block the state’s new ballot security law has hit a roadblock. A New Hampshire judge granted Attorney General John Formella’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit promoted by Liot Hill.

Liot Hill made headlines when she used her office to reach out to the law firm of notorious Democratic partisan operative Marc Elias, known for representing Hillary Clinton and playing a key role in the now-debunked Trump Russia story. The Elias firm, working in conjunction with Liot Hill, found three local plaintiffs to file a lawsuit blocking the new law. It requires voters who want to cast absentee ballots to prove their identity in a manner similar to voters who cast their ballots at polling places.

The Elias lawsuit asked Rockingham Superior Court Judge David Ruoff to block the law. Instead, Ruoff, no stranger to ruling against the state, instead sided with Formella’s team in his decision that RSA 657:17-c’s new proof of identity requirements for people registering to vote by absentee ballot are not unconstitutional.

“Absentee voters requesting absentee ballots were already required to mail or provide their application to the secretary of state or town or city clerk,” Ruoff wrote in his decision issued Thursday. “RSA 657:17-c merely requires absentee voters to include with their ballot application a copy of their identification, a notarized signature, or to provide their identification to the town clerk when returning their application.”

Formella was grateful for Ruoff’s decision in the state’s favor, saying it would help public trust in New Hampshire’s election system.

“We appreciate the court’s recognition that the identification requirements for absentee voters are reasonable, constitutional, and consistent with New Hampshire’s long-standing election practices,” said Attorney General Formella. “This decision confirms that the Legislature acted within its authority to strengthen the integrity and consistency of our election system. I also want to acknowledge the excellent work of our Civil Litigation Unit in defending the statute.”

Rep. Ross Berry (R-Weare), chair of the House Election Law Committee and an outspoken advocate for the legislation, celebrated the news.

“This is a total, unequivocal win for voters’ confidence in our system,” Berry told NHJournal. “Voter ID is popular, constitutional, and commonsense, and the court correctly affirmed that the same reasonable standards should apply whether you vote in person or by absentee ballot, ensuring fairness and consistency across the board.”

The law, passed as part of SB 287, requires absentee voters to either present photo identification in person, submit a photocopy of their ID, or provide a notarized signature when requesting an absentee ballot.

The lawsuit also drew political scrutiny over how the plaintiffs were recruited. NHJournal reported in August that Liot Hill (D-District 2) used her official government email account to solicit potential plaintiffs shortly after the legislation passed.

Liot Hill declined to tell NHJournal whether she was compensated for assisting the Elias firm, later telling InDepth NH that she was advocating for constituents.

“My job as an elected official is to advocate for my constituents, which is exactly what I do every day,” Liot Hill said.

Her involvement prompted criticism from Republican leaders, calls for her resignation, and a formal complaint to the Attorney General’s Office.

The ruling marks the latest legal clash between Formella and Elias. In 2023, Formella’s office reached a $40,000 settlement with Deliver Strategies, a Virginia-based consulting firm connected to deceptive mailers sent during the 2022 Republican primary in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District.

Those mailers, which promoted conservative Robert Burns as the most pro-Trump candidate, were sent by a Democratic-aligned mail firm represented at the time by Elias. Investigators found they were funded by House Majority Forward, a Democratic-aligned nonprofit linked to House Majority PAC. Burns won the primary, but Democrat Annie Kuster prevailed in the general election.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.