NH Map-a-Thon Citizen Redistricting Map Project
Welcome to a project working to draw fair voting district maps for New Hampshire! The Map-a-Thon is supported by a coalition of NH groups who work for fair voting maps, including Granite State Progress, the League of Women Voters of NH, Open Democacy, Open Democracy Teams, and the Kent Street Coalition.
Learn the Basics About Redistricting
Learn about Redistricting -- The two-hour "Redistricting Forum" workshop helps voters and activists understand NH's checkered past of gerrymandering and partisan redistricting in its 
Special Committee on Redistricting.
Fair Redistricting Workshop -- This July 26, 2021, 70-min workshop on YouTube delves into the building blocks of fair redistricting in New Hampshire, and was designed to help legislators, the press and the public understand the unique and challenging aspects of redistricting in the Granite State. https://youtu.be/lWVWNsVF-8E
An Overview for Redistricting -- The Brennan Center at NYU is a leading authority on redistricting policy.
Volunteer to Help or Take Action
NH Map-a-Thon - Citizen Mapping Project Action Page - Small but powerful actions you can take to push the NH Legislature to conduct a fair, nonpartisan and transparent redistricting process.
Communities of Interest
One of the cornerstones of fair redistricting includes "Communities of Interest," which are issues, shared resources, and cultural ties which bind communities and neighborhoods together. Proper voting districts keep these communities together whenever possible. See the original survey used to collect data https://forms.gle/jt36TdDWZxRJ89yz7\
See the Map-a-Thon's Voting District Maps
Because New Hampshire doesn't have an independent redistricting commission, two partisan committees in the NH House and the NH Senate draw the NH House, NH Senate, NH Executive Council, NH's seats for U.S. Congress, and County Commission. The Map-a-Thon project maps compare 2010 maps withe 2020 maps modeling techniques used by an independent redistricting commission.
See the Maps!
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NH Map-a-Thon 2021 Recommended Maps & Supporting Documentation
WHAT MAKES MAP-A-THON'S NH VOTING DISTRICT MAPS FAIR
In New Hampshire, our Constitution is vague as to how new voting districts should be apportioned every 10 years, as the U.S. Constitution stipulates. Unlike other states with independent, nonpartisan commissions drawing the lines, committees are formed by the NH Speaker of the House and the NH President of the Senate. These committees reflect the partisan makeup of the whole body, which in the House in 2021 is 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats. In 2011, this process was done largely behind closed doors by the majority, with little input from either Republican or Democrat members, and what input was given by the public was ignored. As a result, Executive Council, Senate and House districts were all manipulated for partisan purposes.
In 2021, the Map-a-Thon has involved over 200 citizens from all over the state.
During Map-a-Thon I through III, the volunteers in the Map-a-Thon facilitated acquiring "Communities of Interest" data from towns around NH, then prioritized those communities of interest to guide the smaller mapping and tech team comprised of engineers, database specialists and GIS mapping experts.
In preparation for mapping, the mapping and tech team took the process further by learning the U.S. and NH Constitutional requirements, the NH Supreme Court Law, and the statute and non-statute requirements and customs. The NH Constitutional requirements, a 2006 amendment, the large number number or reps and other factors make meeting the Constitutional mandates for the NH House make it particularly difficult. However, Map-a-Thon volunteers have made significant advances without gerrymandering, in stark contrast to past efforts of the Special Committee on Redistricting.
Before you review the maps
There are a few things for you to know about the challenges of drawing voting district maps in New Hampshire. Some of these challenges have also been used to hide manipulation of districts for partisan advantage, so Granite Staters should understand how the process works.
- Check out our Fair Redistricting Workshop on YouTube, featuring Yurij Rudensky of the Brennan Center, one of the nation's leading authorities in a fair redistricting process. You'll learn about the building blocks of fair, nonpartisan redistricting.
- The NH House Special Committee on Redistricting website - Contains the limited documentation made public in 2011, and the NH Supreme Court ruling. It does not provide insight into the proprietary software that the Special Committee will be using for NH House Districts.
- The NH Constitution, part 2, Article 9 & 11 and 2006 Constitutional amendment "Amended November 7, 2006 to enable towns with sufficient population to have their own representative district and permits the use of floterial districts." The sufficient population number in 2010 was 3,291, and in 2020 was 3,444. In 2011, 152 towns were eligible, but 62 of those towns did not receive their own House District, violating the Constitution as amended.
- New Hampshire's unique -and problematic - floterial districts
- The NH Supreme Court's 2002 Ruling on the "Aggregate Method" vs. the "Component Method" of Calculating Floterial Districts -- The NH Supreme Court took issue with the traditional method of residual population and recommended the "Component Method" to better allocate representation in floterial districts. In combination with the 2006 NH Constitutional Amendment, using this method to calculate floterial districts, limited the number of towns which could mathematically receive their own regular House district.
- The Alternative Component Method from Map-a-Thon mapping & tech team volunteer, David Andrew, to more efficiently calculate floterial districts. This method modifies the court's recommendation by allowing deviations +/-5% deviations to be considered when calculating floterial districts, thus allowing for more flexibility in getting eligible towns their own NH House district.
See the Map-a-Thon's Citizen-Drawn Voting Maps for NH
New Hampshire's U.S. Congressional Districts
New Hampshire's Executive Council Districts
New Hampshire's State Senate Districts
New Hampshire's State House Districts
How to Vote by Absentee Ballot in New Hampshire
Vote-by-mail absentee ballots have been used in New Hampshire since 1775, and 7-10% of ballots cast in NH elections are by absentee ballot. Absentee ballots are traditionally used when the voter will be out of state or far away from their town, on religious holidays, and other reasons specified below. There are two applications, one for town elections, and another for state and federal elections. For any questions specific to your town, your city or town clerk is the primary election officials dealing with absentee ballots.
Those issues which pertain specifically to absentee voting during the Covid 19 pandemic are listed in dark red, below.
Voting by Absentee Ballot in NH - Normal Circumstances
Hampshire may apply for an absentee ballot with only one of four official "excuses." - Physical disability (and for 2020, concern with COVID-19)
- Religious observance
- Absence from City on day of election
- Employment obligations. For the purpose of absentee voting, the term "employment" shall include the care of children and infirm adults, with or without compensation.
Voting by Absentee Ballot in NH - Voting in 2020 Elections with"Physical Disability" OR "Concern with Covid 19" excuse
With municipal elections this spring, a state primary on September 8, 2020 and the general election on November 3, 2020, we are urging voters who have concerns about voting in person to vote by mail with an absentee ballot.
On April 10, 2020, the Secretary of State and Attorney General of NH issued issued a statement allowing any voter with a concern of COVID-19 to vote by absentee using the "physical disability" excuse in 2020.
Then with an action by the NH legislature, and signed by Gov. Sununu, this was updated on July 18, 2020 with an amended absentee ballot form, at right. This is now the current form you should use.
Hate to give you bad news, but I did find broken links on your page as well. In the paragraph “if you have further questions” your link to “voting during the COVID-19 state of emergency” is broken, probably due to the revision of the SOS website. Same broken link later in the paragraph “get an application online”.
Here's the a portion of the April statement allowing the absentee ballot to be used for concerns with COVID-19
"With respect to any upcoming municipal elections, we offer the following guidance as to who is eligible to vote by absentee ballot in light of the current public health crisis. As explained below, in light of the current public health state of emergency, Emergency Orders #16 and #26, and current public health guidance on social distancing and avoiding being in public in groups of 10 or more, all voters have a reasonable ground to conclude that a "physical disability" exists within the meaning of RSA 657:1. Therefore,all voters may request an absentee ballot on that basis." To read the entire memorandum, [click here.]
Subsequent statements by the Secretary of State William Gardner and Governor Sununu clarified that for the duration of 2020, any registered voter wishing to receive an absentee ballot for a municipal, state or federal election could get one. In mid-May, the Secretary of State also clarified that voters with Covid 19 concerns may also register to vote by mail. Call your local town clerk's office for more information on on what copies of documents and identification will be necessary, or check "no" answering whether you are a registered voter on the absentee ballot request application, and a voter registration application will be sent to you.
If you have concerns about voting in person during the Covid-19 emergency, we recommend you request your absentee ballot immediately. Don't wait until September; you can fill out and send your application for September and November. This will aid the town clerk and election workers in processing an unprecedented number of ballots. Your ballot won't arrive until a few weeks prior to the election.
If you filled out and sent in the previous NH Absentee Ballot Application for 2020 Elections . . .
If you have already filled out the previous form, applying for absentee ballots for September 8 and November 3 with two forms, you DO NOT have to fill out the new July 2020 form. Your previous application, where you checked the "disability" excuse still qualifies you to receive your ballots.
If you have further questions
If you have further questions about voting by absentee, visit the Secretary of State web page created in June with COVID-related information, Voting During the COVID-19 State of Emergency or contact your local town or city clerk.
Requesting an Absentee Ballot Application in NH
Requests for absentee ballots must:
- Be made by filling out an official absentee ballot request form
- Requesting a minimum of 10 days in advance if you want it to be sent by mail
- Going directly to town hall on the Monday before election day before your clerk's office closes
- Made in writing with the request form, not by phone
- And contain your physical "wet" - as in ink - signature. Electronic signatures are not accepted by the State of New Hampshire for voting purposes.
- You may download and fill out your form electronically (with PDF software, for instance), but you must print out the form, and sign it in ink.
- Once you've signed the form, you can mail back the paper copy, or scan the document with your ink signature and fax or email it as an attachment.
- If you don't have a printer, request a paper absentee application from your town clerk.
Get an Application from Your Town Clerk You may get an application in person at your city or town clerk's office, or an application can be mailed to you or emailed as a PDF to you upon request. We have heard that some town clerks refuse to mail requests, and require you to come in person. This is not required and you are within your rights to request that it be mailed.
Get an Application Online For state & federal elections, you may find the 2020 Application for State Election Absentee Ballot at the official NH Secretary of State web page. This is a two-page application. Applications for absentee ballots for local elections will only be available at your town's website. There is also a new page at the Secretary of State's website called Voting During the COVID-19 State of Emergency and the 2020 absentee ballot application which contains a "concern for COVID-19 checkbox.
You may get an absentee ballot application at your Town or City Clerk's office until 5:00 P.M. on the day before election day. To get an absentee ballot for state and federal elections by mail, fill out and mail or fax the official absentee ballot application well in advance of the election to your town or city clerk's office. You are not required to have a photo ID to vote absentee.
While anyone may return another voter’s absentee ballot application, it’s important to know that absentee ballots can only be handed to the voter or mailed to the voter. Election officials are unable to hand your ballot to anyone else, regardless of their relation to you. Why only you? New Hampshire Law 657:15 specifies that it must either be mailed to or personally delivered to the applicant.
For uniformed service members who vote (UOCAVA) in NH elections, there is a separate Federal Post Card Application for Voter Registration and Absentee Ballot Request (FPCA) form you should use to request a ballot. This is a two-page application.
