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Important Guidance for Reading Our Maps There are two types of NH House districts, regular non-floterial districts, and floterial districts which “float” above the regular districts. (Read more at “About NH's Floterial Districts.”) The colors on each map correspond to the district details table, below.
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This NH House maps report is Part II of the Map-a-Thon Project's proposed 2020 voting district maps. This project is supported by Open Democracy Action, the Kent Street Coalition, Granite State Progress and the League of Women Voters New Hampshire. To date, over 250 people have participated in the process, ranging from research and data collection to mapping and analysis.
Our Mapping Process is Fair & Transparent The Map-a-Thon's project is a transparent process, including the software, criteria, data sources, maps, and analysis tools. Interested citizens and legislators can replicate our maps to verify our conclusions. We welcome your efforts to try to make even better maps! Please follow the links in the report to see the maps in our software.
Map-a-Thon maps also use “communities of interest” data when possible to determine what towns should – and should not – be in a district together. These, and other techniques, should be a model for the tools a future independent redistricting commission would use to determine voting districts, replacing the current partisan model. It should be noted that use of communities of interest is limited for House maps because of the hierarchy of constitutional and court rules.
Why NH House Redistricting is Difficult – and Disappointing
Mapping NH House of Representatives districts is constrained by these factors:
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The US and NH Constitutions
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US & NH Supreme Court decisions
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NH statutes
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The high number of state representatives- 400- one of the largest democratic bodies in the world.
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The size and location of our towns
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Traditions which influence deviation from the ideal population, and crossing county boundaries.
These factors often force us to put smaller towns with towns large enough to have their own dedicated voting districts, and sometimes results in larger, multi-town districts.
We hope to make policy recommendations for a better process in 2030.
We are disappointed that these constraints make NH representation often less local, personal, and reflective of individual communities. Our 2020 maps do help more Granite Staters get the representation they deserve, but we have a long way to go before our voting districts are truly representational.
Send your comments & corrections to[email protected].
The data on this page is available in PDF form by downloading it at OpenDemocracyNH.com/redistricting/mapathonreport2a.pdf
Click on the County Name to Jump to the Map |
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Belknap County
2010 NH House (Current Map) |
2020 Map-a-Thon Proposed |
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Links to M-A-T 2020 maps in DRA 2020 software:Non-Foterial https://davesredistricting.org/join/4d360609-f12a-4a1f-b262-8881687cdc08Floterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/bda0702e-c13d-4b6e-b5a9-55886aea57f5 |
Belknap County Details & Analysis
The small size of Belknap County, the dispersion of towns eligible for their own House districts, and the number of reps to be allocated make the county difficult to map and honor 
the NH Constitution. The ideal number of reps is 18.498, .002 from having to round to 19, the worst possible scenario. Belknap County also gained population, resulting in a smaller than average window of deviation. Because 8 of 11 towns have a population of greater than 3,444, smaller towns which need to be in districts with other towns often need to be attached to larger towns robbing them of their dedicated House district. Without Constitutional and policy changes, Belknap willl continue to be deprived of proper representation.
- 3 towns received their own districts - same as in 2010
- Smaller, compact non-floterial districts - not more than 2.5 towns (one ward in Laconia)
- Only one floterial for the county
- Meredith, Gilmanton, Tilton would have their own House districts, but disappointingly, five others would not
- Laconia was not kept intact
- The county's deviations were within +/- 5%, from -3.28 to 4.71%. Total 7.99%
Carroll County
2010 NH House (Current Map) |
2020 Map-a-Thon Proposed |
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Links to M-A-T 2020 maps in DRA 2020 software: Non-Foterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/15f6618d-f8c7-41d9-85a6-56cf08d482d2
Floterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/d1dc49d7-7f4e-4be5-adfa-d765c730ee64 |
Carroll County Details & Analysis
Some improvements were made in Carroll County vs. 2010, but it is, and will be in the future, challenging. Carroll qualifies for 15 reps (county population divided by 3,444 = 14.55, rounded up to 15). However, the 14.55
adds complexity to the mapping. The southern part of Carroll County has more towns which qualify for their own House districts. The 2010 map districts both Conway and Ossipee in with smaller towns. The 2020 Map-a-Thon gives those towns their own, thus reduces violations of the NH Constitution vs. the 2010 the map, but Wolfeboro loses its own district.
The geography of two towns “force” errors on the map. Brookfield and Tuftonborough are smaller towns surrounded by larger ones. These communities need to be in a district, thus had to be paired with a larger town which should have had its own House district. Freedom and Effingham are now is a smaller district, but Sandwich and Tamworth couldn't be done in our maps, something for which residents have asked.
Two unfortunate results: Sandwich and Albany are technically contiguous, but does not meet our standards for compactness. We also created two large districts out of necessity, but advocate for smaller districts whenever possible.
Deviations for Carroll County ranges from -4.93 to 1.54 % for an overall deviation of +/- 6.47%
Cheshire County
2010 NH House (Current Map) |
2020 Map-a-Thon Proposed |
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Links to M-A-T 2020 maps in DRA 2020 software: Non-Foterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/e533280a-0033-443a-af7c-1baa97df1691
Floterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/695414e9-bdec-4382-b4a5-06097c114678 |
Cheshire County Details & Analysis
Cheshire County lost a state representative seat due to a loss of population in the last 10 years, one of the reasons the map needs to be adjusted.
One of the advantages of the Map-a-Thon map includes facilitating four eligible towns to receive their own House districts, vs. two in 2010. This includes Hinsdale, Jaffrey, Ridge & Winchester. But these improvements come with baggage. Some districts are larger than 2010, and all towns are in a floterial. Reducing floterials would have resulted in even larger districts.
Three of Keene's wards were added to a floterial (3,4,5), and Ward 1 connected to other towns. Ward 2 is in a floterial with other towns.
2010's Cheshire District 1 is broken up into now in smaller districts, with a smaller in population per district, with eligible Hinsdale receiving its own dedicated House district.
Pros & Cons of this Map
Coos County
2010 NH House (Current Map) |
2020 Map-a-Thon Proposed |
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Links to M-A-T 2020 maps in DRA 2020 software: Non-Foterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/609e2209-13c6-446e-8fff-09f773bc047c
Floterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/64b2fd8b-a3c6-47fd-aa3b-b4c5a01136d0 |
Coos County Details & Analysis
Map-a-Thon's 2020 proposal for Coos has zero violations of the NH Constitution for towns eligible for their own House district. There had been two towns eligible, but Lancaster lost population since 2010, and no longer qualifies.
Most of the districts now follow the roads, making it easier for legislators to travel their districts, and we have the same number of districts, but Coos did lose a seat because of population loss.
The sparsely-populated North Country unfortunately means large, sprawling districts, no matter who is doing the mapping.
The deviation ranges from -3.89 to 4.80, a total of 8.69%
Grafton County
2010 NH House (Current Map) |
2020 Map-a-Thon Proposed |
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Links to M-A-T 2020 maps in DRA 2020 software: Non-Foterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/fc01e1ed-4bcd-4664-8eff-02c39045a57c Floterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/cb2db4a0-5dd1-45c5-93c5-25849acbdc4b |
Grafton County Details & Analysis
Our maps do not make significant headway on getting towns their own House districts, with the same number in both the 2010 as with our 2020 maps. Our maps have three violations, with the eligible towns of Littleton, Haverhill and Plymouth included in multi-town districts.
The Map-a-Thon maps have dedicated House districts for Canaan, Enfield .Lebanon & Hanover, and for a total of six out of nine eligible towns.
As with some of the other counties, the ideal number of reps was calculated at 26.458, making for somewhat high deviations, from – 4.67% to 4.99%, a total of 9.66% out of a possible range of 10%.
Hillsborough County
2010 NH House (Current Map) |
2020 Map-a-Thon Proposed |
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Links to M-A-T 2020 maps in DRA 2020 software: Non-Foterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/31c5ddc0-3a72-4ac1-bac2-57c8a5dc5f0d Floterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/63bbb716-7f3d-4a6e-9bf6-b4b5832cc4ff |
Our Hillsborough County map made some significant improvements over 2010. There are 37 towns & city wards eligible for their own House districts(s), and the Map-a-Thon maps 
reduced the violations from eight to six for that Constitutional requirement.
New Hampshire's most populous county receives 122.81 state representatives, rounded up to 123.
Particular challenges for Hillsborough County includes the larger towns in the eastern part of the county sometimes have no choice but to have smaller towns in a district. The western end of the county has many smaller towns less than the 3,444 ideal population which need to be grouped together.
One particular problem on the 2010 map included the incredibly large district of Hudson & Pelham, Hillsborough District 37. Both towns made substantial population gains in the preceding decade, and stand at 25,826 for Hudson and 14,222. Because of its larger number of voters, Hudson candidates dominate the elections, leaving Pelham underrepresented. On the downside, the smaller but still own-district eligible Litchfield was included in a district with Hudson.
Weare, Wilton & New Ipswich, none of which had their own districts in 2010, got them in Map-a-Thon's maps. While Peterborough lost its own House district, it did get included in a district with Hancock & Antrim, all within the same ConVal School District. Antrim had previously been with Windsor and Hillsborough, despite Windsor and Hillsborough being in the Hillsborough-Deering School District.
Hillsborough Deering & Most ConVal towns are districted together Although Brookline did not get it's own district, it was put in a district in which it shares communities of interest.
Deviations for Hillsborough County ranged from -4.77 to 4.54%, with a 9.31% total deviation.
Merrimack County
2010 NH House (Current Map) |
2020 Map-a-Thon Proposed |
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Links to M-A-T 2020 maps in DRA 2020 software:Non-Foterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/b49443d2-783f-4e82-8e6b-eaf1b3199821 Floterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/e8237b09-268c-4deb-add8-a7b2fedc5144 |
One of the biggest improvements for NH House district maps was made in Merrimack County. In 2010, there were 11 violations of the NH Constitution, but in our maps, just six. Three towns, Chichester, Canterbury, 
Dunbarton, are surrounded by larger, own-district eligible towns, forcing violations. There's nothing we can do without a change in Constitutional rules.
Merrimack receives 44.662 reps and like other counties, the distance from a whole number makes it more challenging.
Good news: Franklin is no longer connected with Northfield (floterial added); Concord is no longer districted with Hopkinton; and New London, Pittsfield, Pembroke, all get their own district. Unfortunately, though, Epson & Allenstown lose their own district
Deviations for Merrimack ranged from -4.42 to 4.74% for a total range of 9.16%.
Rockingham County
2010 NH House (Current Map) |
2020 Map-a-Thon Proposed |
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Links to M-A-T 2020 maps in DRA 2020 software: Non-Foterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/04213051-c1e0-4e58-adee-e0a639e29e01
Floterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/eb3fed9e-5164-48cd-b0e2-db7bf9e255ad |
Rockingham County saw significant growth 2010 to 2020, surging from 295,223 to 314,176, so its maps have shifted significantly in some areas. It now gets 91.228 state reps.
It also has many own-seat eligible towns, plus has the geographic limitations of the seacoast border.
That said, Map-a-Thon maps show a slight improvement of two additional towns getting dedicated House districts. This includes Atkinson, Plaistow, Hampstead, Sandown & Seabrook. In working for the greater good, Epping & Raymond unfortunately lost their own district in our maps.
Three of Rockingham's violations couldn't be helped under our current Constitutional & court constraints. Newington, Newfields and New Castle are small towns surrounded by larger, own-district eligible towns, and need to be in a district with another town. That creates violations for some of the surrounding towns.
Rockingham County has a deviation range of -4.93 to 4.86%, with a total range of 9.79%.
Strafford County
2010 NH House (Current Map) |
2020 Map-a-Thon Proposed |
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Links to M-A-T 2020 maps in DRA 2020 software: Non-Foterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/b39e6f9e-fe24-4ebf-99cc-408cd8a8f02a
Floterial: https://davesredistricting.org/join/5536f565-ef3e-40f6-8dce-0d540daab858 |
Map-a-Thon succeeded only with a slight improvement of two additional towns getting their own districts. Disappointing was that we had to leave the district with Strafford and New Durham, which connects in the middle of the woods.
Two “forced” violations are Rollingsford and Madbury, which need to be districted with surrounding larger towns.
Towns which did get their dedicated districts were Milton & Dover, and Barrington, Lee, Rochester & Farmington kept their districts.
Deviations for Strafford are -4.93 to 4.91%,9.84% Total.
Sullivan County, NH
2010 NH House (Current Map) |
2020 Map-a-Thon Proposed |
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Links to M-A-T 2020 maps in DRA 2020 software: Non-Foterial: Floterial: |
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We're sorry to report that Sullivan County is the only county which has more violations for 2020 than in 2010.
Population loss led to a reduction to an apportionment of 12.504 reps, which made it measurable harder to allocate the representation over the towns. Floterials can sometimes help, but did not help in Sullivan.
Where there were two violations for eligible towns not getting their own House district in 2010, these challenges caused one more violation, AND forced us to make districts that would be larger than we would like.
The Map-a-Thon team regrets that we were not able to offer a better map. We look forward to changes, such as a larger deviation, which would allow for better districts. One scenario the team ran used an 11.9% deviation (1.9% over the norm) and it dropped Sullivan County from three violations to zero.
An increase in allowable deviation would help in Sullivan County
Deviations -4.46 to 1.31 for total 5.77.
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