LNN Spotlight: NH Family Caregivers

LNN Spotlight focuses on major issues important to local Hispanic/Latino and underrepresented communities — stay updated on the monthly series by following us on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, and Radio Public.


On this episode of LNN Spotlight, Writer/Editor Belén Dumont speaks with AARP New Hampshire State Director Christina FitzPatrick on the invisible work of family caregivers and the types of resources available to them.  

The total amount of unpaid care New Hampshire residents provided for their loved ones in 2021 carried a value of $2.8 billion, an increase of $500 million since 2019, according to an AARP report released in March

Currently, more than half of Millennial family caregivers identify as people of color, while an increasing 27 percent identify as Latino, according to the U.S. Census. Further research shows that about 75 percent of Latino caregivers are women and are likely to be in their early to mid-40s. 

As a variety of federal and state-level initiatives look to address the growing financial and emotional stress New Hampshire caregivers are experiencing, community organizations are calling for culturally-informed policies that look at the specific needs and experiences of different communities. 

“There’s a real cultural component to how people perceive this role as caregiver,� FitzPatrick said. “So, I’m looking at it and thinking about how difficult it is and it is difficult. But in the Latino community, in particular, there is more of a sense that this is a duty and something that people want to live up to rather than seeing it as a burden or something that they have to do.�

In the interview, Dumont also shared her experiences as a bicultural Latina who watched her family care for all four of her grandparents at home. Listen to learn why she sees “pride� in the family caregiver role. 

The COVID pandemic continues to impact family caregivers as it has “disrupted the work patterns and the apparatus that family caregivers had created to help them maintain a balance in their lives,â€� FitzPatrick explained. 

It’s common for family caregivers to work full-time or continue their education while caring for a loved one. Many of these individuals learn to single-handedly juggle multiple schedules and responsibilities at a time, creating a delicate system around them.

FitzPatrick pointed out that “…Hispanic caregivers are more likely than others to be working full-time and they’re more likely than others to be caring both for their own children and for an older relative at the same time.â€� 

According to FitzPatrick, organizations that work with family caregivers are more likely to meet the needs of their clients and understand their perspectives when their staffs are increasingly diverse.

“It’s diversity in all its forms,� she said. “There are differences between people who live in rural areas than people who live in urban areas, people who have kids living at home and people who don’t, people who don’t speak English and people who do.�

FitzPatrick added that all employers can greatly support their employees by providing them with some flexibility so they can better balance their work and caregiving responsibilities.

“It really helps out the worker and the worker’s family and also really helps people to feel more loyal to their employers and in the long run that means you’re reducing turnover,� she said.

Learn more by listening to the full conversation and checking out the March 2023 report at www.aarp.org/


Publisher’s Note: AARP New Hampshire and New Hampshire Latino News are partners in providing greater visibility and voice to local Hispanic-Latino communities. 

Associate State Director, Advocacy and Community Engagement

AARP New Hampshire is accepting applications for the Associate State Director, Advocacy and Community Engagement position.

The opportunity is a regular full-time position based in Concord with some light traveling involved.

The candidate hired will develop and execute state, federal, and local advocacy activities. They lead state-level advocacy activities and represent the organization and its interests to elected officials, local and state government agencies, and partner organizations.

Other responsibilities include:

  • Leading state-level implementation of national campaign efforts
  • Recruits, develops, and manages volunteer teams to advance advocacy community outreach campaign goals and objectives
  • Establishes strategic community partnerships and leverages internal and external resources to achieve the organization’s community engagement goals at the state and local levels
  • Integrates advocacy and community engagement work with internal and external teams and partners
  • Develops and executes advocacy and community engagement campaigns that include grassroots mobilization and leadership

For more information and to apply click HERE.

Women’s History Month: Latina Invisibility

March is Women’s History Month. It celebrates women’s contributions, struggles, blocked opportunities, and ultimate triumphs.

It is also a time for issuing empty promises that things will improve, a refrain often heard but only partially fulfilled.

For Latinas, Women’s History Month presents a vivid reminder of the barriers and challenges they face. The discussions, campaigns, and commitments to action marginalize their stories and struggles.

Equal Pay Day epitomizes this sharply: “This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.â€�

In March 2023, March 14th was Equal Pay Day, an embarrassment and a mark of economic inequality and inequity that defines many women’s lives today.

But Equal Pay Days for Latinas and Black women do not appear in the Equal Pay Day story. Equal Pay Day for Black women is September 21, 2023. In 2023, Latinas will reach Equal Pay Day on October 8.

While the start of Spring marks Equal Pay Day for all women, for Latinas, it appears as stores decorate for Christmas.

This economic fact fails to appear in the mainstream media narrative during this month celebrating women. This absence underscores the invisibility of the struggles, inequities, and barriers that cripple Latinas.

Other examples of Latina invisibility are equally jarring. The Latina maternal mortality rate is the most poignant.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released the latest maternal mortality rates.

The data horrifies.

Between 2018 and 2021, overall maternal mortality increased by 89 percent, while Whites saw a 79% increase and Blacks 70%.

2022 article notes that the annual number of maternal mortalities in the U.S. has doubled over 20 years. The United States, Afghanistan, and Sudan are the only countries with increasing maternal mortality rates.

Armed with this data, media and political leaders in wealthy civil society have alighted on two alarming and unacceptable points.

First, the U.S. maternal mortality rate is 55th globally, greater than Russia, in a nation that purports to care about women, children, and families.

Second, the Black maternal mortality rate at 69.9 per 100,000 live births is the highest among racial/ethnic groups. This fact is deplorable on both moral and social levels.

Yet scant attention is directed to the disturbing and frightening situation of a continual significant increase in the Latina maternal mortality rate, data found in that same CDC report:

Between 2020 and 2021, there was a 53.8 percent increase in the maternal mortality rate for Latinas. This is the most significant increase among racial/ethnic groups.

Between 2018 and 2021, Latinas experienced a 137 percent increase in maternal mortality. Again, the largest increase among racial/ethnic groups.

This dramatic increase in the Latina maternal mortality rate is a harbinger of economic, social, familial, and personal consequences that will reverberate throughout society.

The health of women and children represents a key index of the health of a nation. The overall U.S. maternal mortality rate and the alarming high increase in the Latina rate are symptoms of a disordered society that disinvests in women, children, and families and a failing healthcare system.

The continual increase in maternal mortality rates — especially the accelerated rate increase among Latinas — indicates an insidious malignancy impacting the well-being of mothers, children, families, and society. While some aspects of this problem have been identified, the invisibility of Latinas conceals the gravity of their condition.

Each of us will pay the price for this invisibility.

For Latinas, the lesson is that their challenges and barriers and the inequities endemic to their lives are far more significant than is commonly acknowledged. Rectifying these endemic inequities requires Latinas be made visible. The inequities affecting Latinas must move from the margins to the center of policy agendas to ensure economic, housing, health, education, and workforce equity.

As Women’s History Month winds down, it is time to take on the task of equity for all women all year around — and not just talk about it during March.

Until there is equity for all women, there will be equity for no women.


Publisher’s Notes: Women’s History Month: Latina Invisibility was first published on The Edge.

Noreen M. Sugrue is currently the Director of Research at the Latino Policy Forum. Before joining the Latino Policy Forum, she was a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is the author or co-author of many articles and book chapters. Her international and domestic research focuses on immigration, immigrants, gender, health care, and the workforce centering on inequity, inequality, and distributive justice. In addition, she analyzes and evaluates the construction and implementation of social policies to address and redress inequities.

Do you have an idea for an Opinion-Editorial? We want to hear from you. Email us at Info@LatinoNewsNetwork.com

Labor of Granite Staters caring for relatives estimated at $2.8 Billion according to AARP report

157 million hours worked. 168,000 New Hampshire caregivers. $0 paid out.

A new report by AARP revealed that the amount of unpaid care Granite Staters provided for loved ones in 2021 carried a value of $2.8 billion dollars.

Compared to the last report in 2019, this number has increased by $500 million.

“Family caregivers play a vital role in New Hampshire’s health care system, whether they care for someone at home, coordinate home health care, or help care for someone who lives in a nursing home,� said Christina FitzPatrick, AARP New Hampshire State Director. “We want to make sure all family caregivers have the financial, emotional and social support they need, because the care they provide is invaluable both to those receiving it and to their community.�

Whether it’s an abuelo, a tia or a parent, Latinos are known for caring for their family members and in many households, it is expected that Latino children will eventually care for their elderly relatives. In 2021, Salud America estimated that 1 in 3 Latino households had at least one family caregiver.

AARP reports that 61% of caregivers are also working a full time or part time job. This leads to lost income, less career opportunities and reduced savings due to their commitment at home. The report also points to the notion of “sandwich generationâ€� caregivers. AARP estimated that 30 percent of caregivers lived in a multigenerational household, including children or grandchildren. This “sandwich generationâ€�, consisting of Gen Z and millennials, are even more likely to be balancing work and tending to elderly relatives. 

26 percent of the Hispanic population in the U.S. lives in multigenerational homes, according to Pew Research.

AARP suggests several recommendations to offer support for diverse family caregivers including federal government assistance and an expansion to the Family and Medical Leave Act. To access the full report, click here.
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Publisher’s Note: AARP New Hampshire and New Hampshire Latino News are partners in providing greater visibility and voice to local Hispanic-Latino communities. 

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Cover photo: Kampus Production for Pixels

DHHS Sends Urgent Yellow Letters; Over 72,000 at Risk of Losing Medicaid

New Hampshire Latino News produces and amplifies stories focused on the responses to the social determinants of health. A key social determinant, Health Access & Quality is defined as the extent to which people have equitable, affordable and available access to needed healthcare services. This definition includes both physical accessibility and availability via financial means, transportation options, and other factors.


The federal government announced at the end of 2022 that it will be ending continuous Medicaid enrollment. For over 72,800 Granite Staters, that means their coverage will be gone if they don’t contact the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) by March 31.

This continuous enrollment, a provision of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, allowed millions of Americans to remain on Medicaid without having to show that they still qualify. Starting April 1, the DHHS will return to its annual redetermination process, in which recipients will have to prove their eligibility for the first time since before the Covid-19 pandemic. 

With the March 31 redetermination deadline rapidly approaching, the department is sending out yellow letters to New Hampshire residents that need to complete this process. State Medicaid Director Henry Lipman said that NH EASY users may receive an electronic copy of the letter as well.

The letters state in bold, “Continuous Medicaid coverage is ending,â€� and include instructions and resources to navigate redetermination. 

“It’s going to be important for Medicaid beneficiaries to watch their mail, email and text messages for notices from the state and to complete their Medicaid renewals in order to avoid a gap in their health coverage,� said D.J. Bettencourt, deputy insurance commissioner of New Hampshire.

The over 72,000 recipients that haven’t yet completed this process ahead of March 31 will lose their Medicaid coverage if they don’t meet this deadline. That’s why Lipman said it’s important for recipients to look out for these yellow notices. 

“All of the notices related to eligibility, everything now going forward is yellow during this unwind period,â€� he said. 

Lipman said his department has been mindful of New Hampshire’s Latino and Spanish-speaking communities when coordinating this outreach campaign. Between eight and nine percent of New Hampshire Medicaid recipients are Hispanic. That’s much lower than the national average, but still a point of emphasis for Lipman and his team.

“We don’t have the necessary ethnicity data to send it out directly [to the households that need it], but we’ve made the letter available and prominent on our website in Spanish,â€� he said. “We’ve worked in the past with New Hampshire Public Radio and their Spanish news component. We do try to have sensitivity not only to people who speak Spanish, but to other languages.â€� 

In preparation for an expected wave of last-minute redetermination requests, Lipman said the department increased call center capacity so recipients can have the chance to qualify. 

But not everyone who completes redetermination on time will be able to keep their existing Medicaid coverage. In fact, many won’t qualify to stay on Medicaid and will have to seek out alternative health insurance options. 

To help with the search, New Hampshire’s DHHS recognizes two services as the state’s Health Insurance Navigators: First Choices Services and Health Market Connect, both of which offer services in English and Spanish.

“Our goal is to find, connect with and enroll as many New Hampshire residents in whatever qualifying plan that they’re eligible for,â€� said Eli Cohn, navigator with Health Market Connect. “So if they’re continuing to be eligible for Medicaid, we want to keep them on Medicaid… if not, we want to get them on a healthcare plan on heathcare.gov.â€�  

Cohn expects to be helping many state residents whose incomes are now too high to stay qualified for Medicaid.

“If they need to transition out of Medicaid because they’re over income, we can get them into a Marketplace plan that’ll still offer them some financial support,â€� he said. 

Cohn said that Health Market Connect hasn’t gotten a lot of calls just yet about the March 31 redetermination, specifically. He anticipates that will change in the near future as recipients start reacting to the letters.

“I think it’s going to pick up really, really soon,â€� he said. “It feels, to a lot of people, this yellow letter looks a little threatening… A lot of the job is going to be emotional sensitivity, helping people find the peace of mind that they’re looking for by getting themselves covered.â€� 

Benefits will end gradually for those who no longer qualify, however. Lipman said that they will remain usable for one year after a person has been ruled no longer eligible. 

Additionally, the state will leave children, people in long-term care settings and other vulnerable individuals to be evaluated towards the end of this Medicaid unwind, a process expected to take about one year. This way, these groups have more time to seek alternative healthcare options, if necessary.

Resources:

First Choice Services; 1-877-211-NAVI or (603) 931 3858; https://acanavigator/com/nh/home

Health Market Connect; 1-800-208-5164; https://hmcnh.com

Federal Health Insurance Marketplace; https://www.healthcare.gov

Marketplace Call Center; 1-800-318-2596 (TTY: 1-855-889-4325)

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Cover photo: TaxRebate.org.uk

AARP Announces 2023 Community Grants

Granite State nonprofits and government entities looking to enhance their community impact may be eligible for AARP’s 2023 grants, the Purpose Prize Award and the Community Challenge Grant.  

The AARP Purpose Prize Award aims to support 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations in their community efforts. 

AARP will select five winners to receive $50,000 each and up to ten fellows who will receive $10,000 each. Winners and fellows will also receive a year of technical support to help expand the scope of their work. 

“The AARP Purpose Prize award recognizes applicants who go beyond individual volunteering to take on a specific social problem in a sustained, systematic, and measurable way that aims to make the world a better place for us all,� said Christina FitzPatrick, AARP NH State Director. “All across New Hampshire, people 50-plus are using their life experience to give back in ways that elevate their communities and the world. The AARP Purpose Prize award seeks to recognize these leaders.�

Nonprofit founders or co-founders must be 50 years or older to be eligible, learn more at AARP’s website. The deadline to apply is February 28, at www.aarp.org/apply

The 2023 AARP Community Challenge offers nonprofit organizations and government entities a variety of grants—ranging from $500 to $50,000—for quick-action community projects. 

These grants look to support permanent physical improvements in the community, new programming pilots or services, and temporary demonstrations that lead to long-term change.

Since the program began in 2017, 18 NH organizations have been recipients of the Community Challenge Grant, according to AARP NH Associate State Director of Communications Pamela Dube.

In 2018, Manchester Connects received funding from the Community Challenge to develop more recreational space along the Merrimack River. 

“We were super excited to get the AARP grant because it allowed us to make this a place where people want to spend time. It can really now be a destination,â€� said Manchester Connects Co-Chair Sarah Jacobs. 

Unlike previous years, the 2023 Community Challenge offers three different grant opportunities including Flagship Grants, Capacity-Building Microgrants, and Demonstration Grants. 

Interested applicants can register for the Q&A webinar on February 8 at 2PM to learn more about the grant program and its application process. 

Applications are being accepted until March 15. Selected projects will begin late June and are expected to be completed by late November. 


Editor’s Notes: AARP New Hampshire and New Hampshire Latino News are partners in providing greater visibility and voice to local Hispanic-Latino communities. 

Proposed Bills Bring Affordable Housing and Tenants Rights to the Forefront

Legislation surrounding New Hampshire housing is pushed to the forefront in early 2023, with House Speaker Sherman Packard creating a temporary legislative committee specifically for housing-related bills. 

Tenant rights is a hot topic, with some proposed bills prohibiting discrimination against potential tenants using Section 8 vouchers and implementing rent control. 

According to New Hampshire Legal Aid, there is currently no law that regulates how much a landlord can increase the rent on a tenant. Without a written lease that legally binds the rent amount, landlords are free to change rent prices at their disclosure.

Census data showed that 47 percent of renters in the state are paying 30 percent or more of their household income toward rent. And affordability isn’t the only issue. Reports have found that there is a serious lack of available rental units. Five percent is considered a balanced rental market by New Hampshire Housing. New Hampshire’s vacancy rate is currently 0.5 percent.

“Rent control is a bad idea. It’s been proven over and over again that it worsens the problem it is trying to control. Any idea that is restricting business is going to end up causing more harm than they are fixing. If you aren’t creating more housing, then you are looking at the wrong place,� said Nick Norman, director of legislative affairs for the landlords group Apartment Association of NH.

In Manchester, officials recently held a meeting to discuss solutions to the homeless crisis after the city announced plans to clear 45 tents from an encampment formed around the Families in Transition shelter.

“The city faces a homelessness crisis, and the problem is the lack of shelter models of low barriers for people to access,� said Adrienne Beloin, Director of Homelessness Initiatives.

In response, the city added a temporary 40-bed warming station at William Cashin Senior Activity Center. 

A 2021 report by the NH Coalition to End Homelessness estimated that there were 4,682 houseless individuals that year. That same report found that nine percent of the state’s homeless population is Hispanic. According to their analysis, because only four percent of New Hampshire’s general population identifies as Hispanic, Hispanics in New Hampshire are over two times more likely to experience homelessness. 

Notable 2023 Housing Bills

  • HB95: Enables municipalities to limit rent increases and/or require a period of notice before increasing rent
  • HB 117: Allows for eviction of a tenant when a lease is up, and requires a 30 day’s notice
  • HB 283: Places a limit on application fees to prospective tenants to $35 or the cost of conducting a background check, whichever amount is less
  • HB 379: Provides attorneys for low-income evictees 

_________________________________________________________________________________Photo: RODNAE Productions, Pexels

U.S. Smoking Numbers Down, but New Hampshire Teen Vaping on the Rise

Unless you’re in a Las Vegas casino, smoke-free public spaces have become the norm. Gone are the days of Joe Camel and the Marlboro man. With seemingly less representation in advertisements and TV shows, smoking generally seems to be a thing of the past.

However, experts say this isn’t necessarily the case. While the number of cigarette smokers is down – from 20.9 percent of U.S. adults in 2005 to 12.5 percent in 2020 – smoking of e-cigarettes and vaping is trending upwards.

According to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), 43 percent of New Hampshire twelfth grade males reported using electronic vapor products at least one day during the 30 days leading up to a 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

While nationally 27.5 percent of high school-aged youth said they used an electronic vapor product during the 30-day cycle, the number reached 34 percent for New Hampshire youth, according to DHHS.

Graphic courtesy of New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services

“The kids are getting into a vicious cycle,” said Kim Coronis, policy and program manager of Breathe New Hampshire, citing the addictive nature of nicotine existing in vape products. 

New Hampshire law prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes or e-liquids to anyone under the age of 21, although reporting by New Hampshire Public Radio showed that vaping is common even inside New Hampshire high school bathrooms. Students told NHPR that it’s easy to get vape products through older friends or stores that don’t ask for identification.

A national report by the Truth Initiative found that generally Black and Latino youth expressed higher levels of distrust for the tobacco industry. Only 3.8 percent of Hispanic-Latino high school students use cigarettes, but still, 23.2 percent use e-cigarettes.

Some groups cite the flashy design of e-cigarettes and the variety of candy-like, sweet flavors of vape liquids are what make the future of e-cigarette consumption dangerous.

“These are clearly being marketed towards a very specific demographic, and that demographic is youths,� said Dr. Jacob Kaslow, pediatric pulmonologist at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

And while youth’s distrust for big tobacco tends to deter them from smoking cigarettes, many teens are not aware that vapes contain nicotine.

“This is vastly different than their understanding of cigarettes, right? Every child knows that cigarettes are bad,â€� said Kaslow. “That’s just been sort of ingrained in our public health ethos now, but this has not been the case or currently is still not the case for e-cigarettes.â€�

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Cover photo: E-Liquids UK on Unsplash

Latino News Network Pivots Focus To Social Determinants Of Health

COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the United States Latino community. The pandemic devastated the community’s health primarily because of long-standing structural inequities. However, it also exacerbated those disparities by adding a socioeconomic crisis, strengthening barriers to education, and exhausting the quality of neighborhoods and built environments. In essence, COVID-19 negatively impacted the social determinants of health that will negatively impact Latinos for decades.

It is for that reason that the Latino News Network (LNN) is shifting its resources to solutions journalism coverage investigating the responses to social problems, providing insights by evaluating the evidence of what is working and not working, including what can be learned from the limitations (of a response).

New Hampshire Latino News (NHLN), and it’s five sister LNN newsrooms in New England and the Midwest will achieve this by:

  • Before making assumptions about what communities need to know, we commit to genuinely listening to them through surveys and in-person and virtual events to provide information that they’re missing.
  • We will partner with trusted organizations that help us increase accessibility to the public, broaden the reach of our coverage and prevent misinformation.
  • Generate “good conflictâ€� around divisive issues and problems, allowing people and teams to discuss and debate the responses.
  • Commit to the on going examination of issues that can help communities see — and work toward building a better society.

NHLN sees the public as more than just the audience; you are contributors. To that end, please take our brief survey to help shape our coverage in producing stories on the social determinants of health: healthcare and quality, neighborhood and built environment, education access and quality, social and community context, and economic stability.

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The Latino News Network (LNN) oversees five independent statewide coverage, Hispanic-Latino editorial focus English language news and information websites in New England and the Midwest.

LNN’s mission is to provide greater visibility and voice to Hispanics-Latinos, amplify the work of others in doing the same, give young journalists mentoring and real work experience, and apply the principles of solutions journalism in its investigative reporting.

Learn more about our work: https://latinonewsnetwork.com/, Twitter: https://twitter.com/LatinoNewsNet_ / Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/latino-news-network/

Support Local Media

Please consider becoming an LNN member by clicking HERE or making a donation by clicking HERE. Your support helps us tell in-depth stories about a community seldom seen or heard in mainstream media.

Democracy in NHLN: Voter Access Across New England

Hispanic and Latino Americans are the fastest growing racial and ethnic group in the U.S. electorate since the last midterm elections, with about 34.5 million Hispanics and Latinos eligible to vote in 2022.

While the turnout for Hispanic and Latino voters nationwide has increased over the past decade, they still fall behind other groups. Hispanic and Latino voters face a variety of barriers, but efforts to limit voter access are increasing across the country.

Democracy doesn’t properly work when people and communities are blocked or prevented from participating within local, state, and national elections. 

Expanding voting access across the country ensures that communities are accurately and justly represented by its elected officials. 

Advocating for and increasing voting access includes expanding early voting, online voter registration, and same-day voter registration. 

In New Hampshire, early voting remains unavailable while residents must meet specific requirements to submit an absentee ballot. 

A 2022 report by the Election Law Journal ranked New Hampshire last in the country (50th place) for accessible voting in presidential elections. 

The study — Cost of Voting in the American States: 2022 — factored in the state’s lack of early voting, mail-in ballots, and for its voter ID law when determining how easy or hard it is for voters to cast their ballots. 

“Researchers noted that restrictions on voting or registration are usually justified by increasing security, but they said they saw no relationship between such restrictions and a drop in voter fraud,� WMUR reported

In 2020, non-traditional voting — all types of non-election day voting including vote-by-mail and absentee voting — accounted for about 69.4% of the vote, according to Deliver My Vote Executive Director Amanda Pohl.

“Vote-by-mail programs and any early-voting program does provide greater access to the ballot and that supports the basic foundation of our democracy,� Pohl said.

“We had the highest turnout election in modern history,� she added. “We had more people of color [and] young people voting…and more people accessing the ballot who otherwise,� would have not be able to.

Nonprofit leaders at the Vote Local Day discussion on Vote By Mail & Voter ID’s emphasized that the rate of vote-by-mail has increased over the years. They also spoke on how early-voting, vote-by-mail, and absentee ballots have led to greater and more diverse participation throughout the country. 

“Those accessible programs do increase access to voting for disenfranchised communities, especially, and we have some research that we released in February that also shows that young voters and especially voters of color are more likely to vote if they’re given vote-by-mail options,� Pohl said in the discussion.

Although data has found that expanding voter access results in higher participation rates among communities, officials across the U.S. are working to backtrack some of these laws.

“As soon as those things happened, we immediately saw states starting to clamp down on voting methodologies…We’re also seeing backlash from legislatures that don’t want to see that increased participation,â€� Pohl said. 

Since May, almost 400 restrictive bills have been introduced in legislatures across the nation. Some restrictions deny assistance to voters with limited English proficiency, according to the Brennan Center

“Over the past 18 months, there has been a wave of anti-voter bills introduced and passed across the country, many of them designed to undermine the growing political power of Latinos and other communities of color,â€� wrote the Brennan Center. 

Research by the Brennan Center would support the idea that the ongoing increase in voter restrictions are strongly motivated/influenced by “racial backlash�.

“Racial Backlash� is a theory that “describes how white Americans respond to a perceived erosion of power and status by undermining the political opportunities of minorities,� according to the Brennan Center.  


Important Reminders 

Registration: 

NH residents can register in person until Nov. 8 or by mail; online registration is not available. Mail voter registration is only avaible to residents that meet specific requirements; people who are unable to register in person because of physical disability, military service, religious beliefs, or temporary absence. 

Residents that meet these qualifications must directly contact their clerk for the form; the mail voter registration form is not available online. 

NH also does not offer early voting; learn about absentee ballots below. 

Learn about NH voting registration at: https://www.sos.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt561/files/documents/Election%20Documents/registering-to-vote-in-new-hampshire.pdf 

Not sure if you’re registered? Check your registration status at:

https://app.sos.nh.gov/voterinformation

Early Voting

Early voting is not available in New Hampshire.

Submitting an Absentee Ballot: 

NH residents must meet certain requirements to vote by mail. Those eligible include people who cannot vote in person because of:

  • Being absent from the voter’s city or town
  • Religious observance
  • Disability or illness
  • Employment commitments (including caregiving)

Absentee ballots may also be available when a weather emergency impacts an election, according to the Secretary of State’s website

Eligible NH residents must request an absentee or mail-in ballot by filling out and returning the application below by Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. 

https://www.sos.nh.gov/elections/voters/absentee-ballots/request-absentee-ballot

The absentee ballot must be received by Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. in-person or through mail by Nov. at 5 p.m. EST.

Voting Day:

NH poll hours vary across the state. On Nov. 8, all polling places are open between 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST. Some locations may open earlier, up to 6 a.m. Check your town/city’s official website or contact your local elections officials for specific hours. 

Locate a polling place near you at: 

https://app.sos.nh.gov/pollingplacesampleballot

Or 

https://gettothepolls.com


Additional Resources 

General

Be The Ones English Local Voter Guide 

Be The Ones Spanish Local Voter Guide 

Vote.org Poll Locator – https://www.vote.org/polling-place-locator/ 

New Hampshire 

NHLN & AARP NH Town Hall Panel Discussion –  https://nhlatinonews.com/enhancing-accessibility-in-nh-elections/ 

AARP NH Voter Guide – https://nhlatinonews.com/enhancing-accessibility-in-nh-elections/ 


Publisher’s note: NH Latino News, under the Latino News Network umbrella, has put together this informational guide with the help of our partner Be The Ones, to help voters make informed decisions not only at the polls, but in their engagement with democracy going forward.