Curtis Register is a Town Councilor in Durham and a United States Marine Corps veteran.

New Hampshire voters are smart enough to know when they are being deceived. In fact, state lawmakers are masquerading a bill that will make it harder for New Hampshire citizens to vote as something to do about election security.

SB 213 is the newest version of a bill that would add new mandates on citizens who use an absentee ballot, requiring them to present a birth certificate or passport, a domicile requirement besides a drivers’ license and a notarized signature. To put it simply, this legislation just adds a bunch of paperwork and red tape on an already secure and trusted process.

I know the process of voting absentee in New Hampshire like the back of my hand. As a United States Marine Corps veteran and New Hampshire voter, I’ve moved within the state and internationally. When moving from location to location, especially when you are in the military and have kids, it’s easy to misplace a birth certificate or miss the cut off to get your ballot notarized and mailed in time.

We shouldn’t be putting more voting mandates on military members and their families as they are protecting our democracy abroad. — especially when there is no credible evidence that the current system has been breached.

Over the last few years, New Hampshire has conducted successful national and local elections. Our Secretary of State has led a bipartisan investigation into the voting process. That investigation found no evidence of widespread voter fraud and made no recommendations for additional documentation for voters who use absentee ballots.

If our elections are already secure and working, why are some New Hampshire lawmakers so focused on creating extra headaches for absentee voters?

As I told lawmakers when I testified against SB 213, I recently bought several firearms as turkey hunting season is quickly approaching. When I purchased these weapons, I provided my driver’s license that had my correct information on it. I filled out the correct forms and waited as the firearms dealer did an FBI instant background check to verify that I wasn’t a criminal. Upon passing the background check, I received all of my firearms, and I was able to shoot those weapons that very day. This happened despite the fact that I had moved several times in the past and did not have to produce any additional documentation to validate my identity.

Why should the rules for voting be harder than the rules for buying a gun? We know, after multiple investigations, that there are very few actual cases of voter fraud. Yet, there have been hundreds of school shootings in the U.S. since the year 2000.

Isn’t that a more prevalent risk than the total number of proven cases of voter fraud? Yet lawmakers appear more focused on making it harder for members of our military, their families and other absentee voters to cast a ballot than protecting our children from gun violence.

SB 213 isn’t about securing our elections or our state. It’s just an unnecessary attempt to make the process of voting harder, particularly for voters stationed overseas. It will weaken voter confidence and undermine the service of those who took an oath to defend our country against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

I hope my fellow Granite Staters will join me in contacting their state lawmakers and urging them to vote against this bill.