2021 NH Map-a-Thon's NH House Redistricting Maps
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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.
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. Notably, this website does not include the criteria being used for the 2020 maps.
- 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.
- 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.
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
A Healthy Democracy is Good Business
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NH's Reputation as a Leader in Fair Elections May Be in Jeopardy - New Hampshire is fortunate to have higher than average civic engagement. Our state leaders often point to our status as the first-in-the-nation Presidential primary and our well-run elections as proof of the Granite State's exceptional civic involvement. NH Needs an Educated, Civically-Engaged Workforce - Businesses and organizations large and small depend on an educated, civically-engaged workforce. In 2022, deliberate barriers to voting were set in law in New Hampshire. These barriers particularly impact young workers, students, folks who might want to move to New Hampshire for work. Companies considering expanding here may think long and hard before making a commitment. Legislators Must Hear that Businesses Support a Healthy Democracy - Below is a "Statement of Principles to Support New Hampshire's Democracy." We're asking your organization to consider signing on to these principles, which we will communicate to the New Hampshire legislature and Governor. Please reach out with questions, suggestions, or comments: Olivia Zink, Executive Director, Open Democracy Autumn Raschick-Goodwin, Program Coordinator, Open Democracy More on why a Healthy Democracy is Good Business, from Open Democracy member Thomas Oppel: |
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Statement of Principles
by New Hampshire Businesses and Organizations which support a healthy democracy
I. We believe that a NH government of, by, and for its citizens must safeguard the precious freedom to vote for ALL of its eligible citizens.
II. For the NH Government to truly represent its citizens, it must guarantee universally accessible and secure voting, and ensure there are no existing or future barriers to exercise that right.
III. We will not support, with our contributions or our votes, any candidates or elected representatives who initiate, vote for, or support laws that make voting more difficult for NH citizens. Nor shall we support those who oppose laws to make the voting process more efficient.
IV. Just as true prosperity in NH requires that all businesses play on a level playing field, we must have a level playing field for our elections and politics. Our NH voting districts must be based on valid census information and be free of manipulation by partisan voting data, and to ensure this, the redistricting process must be public, and its methods disclosed.
V. Together, we believe that when the electoral system is fair, and the constitutional rights and values of our citizens are honored, our NH Government will truly be “of the people," our economy will be prosperous, and both will work for the greater good of all.
This statement and its signers will be communicated to
The Governor, the Executive Council, the NH Senate and House, and the NH Secretary of State
Don't Let COVID-19 Keep You From Voting -- Request an Absentee Ballot!
It's a scary time to vote in New Hampshire due to the presence of the 
coronavirus and Covid 19. Municipalities are only now starting to grapple with what changes will be necessary to maintain social distancing, sanitized surfaces, logistics of getting people in and out of the building, and keeping poll workers safe, many of whom are over 60 years old.
Fortunately, New Hampshire's Secretary of State has made temporary accommodations for any voter with Covid 19 concerns to be able to vote with an absentee ballot rather than in person.
This accommodation is effective for any municipal, state or federal election in 2020, the two biggest being the September 8, 2020 state primary for Governor, Executive Council, Senate, and State Representative, and the November 3, 2020 general election for those positions, U.S. Senate and President of the United States.
If you are ready to request your absentee ballot applications, go to your town's website or use the 
links below and download from the NH Secretary of State website.
Choose which form (updated 7/19/2020 with the COVID-19 Checkbox) you'd like to use:
Fill out by hand/sign by hand: Absentee Ballot Application from the NH Secretary of State
Fill out by computer/sign by hand: Type-in Absentee Ballot Application from the NH Secretary of State
After you download your forms, we highly recommend that you read our guide called
"How to Vote by Absentee Ballot in New Hampshire"
This web guide will give you both the rules for requesting and filling out the absentee ballot request form, as well as filling out and returning the absentee ballot itself.
Thank you for protecting yourself and our poll workers!
Now that you've done something for YOU, will you help do something for OTHERS?
Print our poster (PDF), and hang copies in public places in your town
Post our social media pictures & messages about voting by absentee
Become a community resource and spread the word by particpating in our "Ask Me About Absentee" program. Email Brian Beihl for more info.
Thank You from
the staff and volunteers
of Open Democracy
