New Hampshire tightens campaign laws for 2024

STATE STATS

Voter makeup: As of June 2024, New Hampshire had about 890,500 registered voters. Thirty-seven percent have no listed political affiliation, while registered Republicans account for about 34 percent. Democrats make up the remaining 29 percent.

Since May 2023, the number of registered Democrats dropped by about 22,000, and the number of registered Republicans grew by about 22,400 in the same period. Voters with no party declaration also fell by about 16,500 since the May 2023 count.

Voting

Voter registration deadlines vary by town and city, but the state does allow same-day registration at polling sites. Mail-in voting is also allowed for persons unable to get to the polls due to travel, religious observance, physical disability, illness, or employment or childcare commitments. The law also allows voters to request absentee ballots if they are in jail for a misdemeanor conviction or awaiting trial on other charges, under a protective order or in witness protection, or cannot get to the polls due to weather safety concerns.

Voters who qualify must complete an absentee ballot application and return it to their local clerk. If returned by mail, absentee ballots must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Election Day. If returned in person, completed mail ballots must be returned by the same time but on the day before the election. A new law also allows the local clerk’s office to deliver absentee ballots to nursing home residents.

Another new law governing state elections bars candidates from creating campaign messages with generative artificial intelligence featuring another candidate within 90 days of the election. Candidates may only use generative AI to depict another person or entity if they include a disclosure that the footage, image, or audio is not real.

The state also implemented an election security measure authorizing the secretary of state to audit randomly selected devices used to tabulate ballots after each general election. Candidates are barred from receiving contributions, both direct and indirect, from labor unions or labor union leaders. Candidates are also blocked from accepting anonymous donations or donations made in any other concealed manner. A recent amendment also capped donation amounts from private individuals and corporations at $15,000 each election cycle, with contributions from political committees and parties capped at $30,000.

PRESIDENTIAL

New Hampshire holds open presidential primaries, allowing residents to vote in either party’s primary regardless of their political party registration. Former President Donald Trump won the Republican primary with about 54 percent of the vote, with President Joe Biden winning the Democratic vote with about 64 percent support. Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley garnered about 44 percent of the GOP vote. After Biden’s withdrawal from the race in late July, New Hampshire’s Democratic delegates transferred their support to Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the party’s national convention.

George W. Bush was the last Republican president to receive New Hampshire’s four electoral votes in the 2000 election despite a string of close votes Less than one percentage point decided the state’s support for Hillary Clinton in 2016, with Clinton winning 47.6 percent and Trump winning 47.2 percent.

GUBERNATORIAL

Former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte won the Republican primary with 64 percent of the vote. Despite New Hampshire having no term limits for governor, sitting Gov. Chris Sununu opted not to run again. Public service should never be a career, and it’s the right time for another Republican to lead, he explained in 2023.

Ayotte served as the state’s attorney general in the mid 2000s before serving a term as a U.S. senator. She won the seat in 2010 with 60 percent of electors behind her, then lost her 2016 reelection bid by 0.2 percent, or about 1,000 votes. Ayotte said public safety would be her No. 1 priority as governor and promised to strengthen penalties for heroin and fentanyl dealers and end bail reforms. Illegal immigration is another priority for Ayotte, specifically barring illegal immigrants from obtaining driver’s licenses and enforcing a zero-tolerance policy in the state’s sanctuary cities.

Ayotte is running against Joyce Craig, who won about the Democratic primary with 48 percent of votes. Craig became the first female mayor of Manchester, N.H., in 2018 and served three terms. She names supporting working families as her top priority as governor, specifically by opposing “right-to-work” legislation, raising the minimum wage, and increasing access to affordable health care. She also aims to mitigate the housing crisis by bolstering construction and hopes to expand access to abortion in the state.

U.S. HOUSE

1st Congressional District

Incumbent Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas became the state’s first openly gay representative upon winning his seat in 2018 with less a 9 percent edge over his GOP opponent. In the House, Pappas worked to cut energy costs with tax credits for homes and businesses. He vows to continue fighting for more abortion access, expanded benefits for veterans, and more affordable housing.

Pappas will face GOP primary winner Russell Prescott, a businessman fresh off serving two terms on the state’s Executive Council after serving five terms as a state senator. Securing the U.S. southern border is Prescott’s top priority, specifically by completing the border wall, reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” program, and working to end catch-and-release policies. He also aims to lower inflation by cutting congressional spending and changing policies that stifle domestic energy production.

2nd Congressional District

Democratic primary winner Maggie Goodlander will fight to keep the 2nd Congressional District blue and replace retiring Rep. Annie Kuster. She previously served as deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice and an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve. Goodlander aims to fight for what she calls fair voting maps and to implement reforms to political campaign financing. She also vowed to fight for guaranteed access to abortions, contraceptives, and in vitro fertilization.

Goodlander will run against GOP primary winner Lily Tang Williams, a survivor of communism in China under Mao Zedong. Her campaign slogan is, “I fear the country I love is becoming the country I left.” She aims to remove subsidies and red tape for businesses to enable the free market. She also advocates for protecting freedom of speech in America, specifically by combatting censorship by Big Tech or the government.

BALLOT MEASURES

Voters will decide whether to raise the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 75. State House Rep. Bob Lynn, a former state Supreme Court justice forced into retirement after hitting the age cap, sponsored the bill. The state is losing good judges who wouldn’t retire at 70 but had no choice, he argued.

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