As State Legislatures Aim to Convene Amid Covid, One Tries a Drive-In
New Hampshire’s House of Representatives, whose speaker died of the coronavirus, has refused to meet remotely.
New Hampshire’s House of Representatives convened on Wednesday morning in a parking lot.Credit.Tristan Spinski for The New York Times
Jan. 7, 2021
DURHAM, N.H. New Hampshire’s House of Representatives convened on Wednesday morning in a parking lot, whipped by an icy wind and drowned out by occasional passing freight trains, in a legislative improvisation worthy of Rube Goldberg.
This was drive-in democracy: Three hundred and fifty-seven state representatives sat in idling cars, tuning into a shared radio frequency. When members expressed a desire to speak, via text message, House staff zipped across the lot in golf carts with microphones affixed to long booms, to stick into their car windows.