New Hampshire Voters Challenge Gerrymandered State Senate, Executive Council Maps with Support of National Redistricting Foundation

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Brooke Lillard
Lillard@redistrictingfoundation.org

New Hampshire Voters Challenge Gerrymandered State Senate, Executive Council Maps with Support of National Redistricting Foundation

Washington, D.C. — With the support of the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF), New Hampshire voters have asked the court to strike down the newly-enacted executive council and state senate maps with a challenge filed in Hillsborough County Superior Court. Specifically, the lawsuit claims the maps to be partisan gerrymanders that violate several clauses of New Hampshire’s Constitution, including the Free and Equal Elections Clause, the guarantee of equal protection, and guarantees of free speech and association. 

“These partisan gerrymanders defy the basic principles of representative government and will entrench Republican Party control over New Hampshire’s senate and executive council regardless of the wishes of the electorate,” said Marina Jenkins, the NRF’s Director of Litigation and Policy. “In drawing these plans, the Republican-controlled legislature systematically subordinated New Hampshire’s long-standing, non-partisan redistricting criteria for partisan gain. To underscore the egregious nature of this, the senate partisan gerrymander is so durable and extreme that Republicans could attain a supermajority in the upper chamber even if they lose the statewide popular vote. For decades, New Hampshire voters have been fiercely independent and closely divided in their support for Republican and Democratic candidates in statewide races. Yet, the legislature has attempted to circumvent the will of the people by enacting these egregious gerrymanders.”

Click here to read the full complaint. 

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