CONCORD, N.H. – The ACLU of New Hampshire today unveiled analysis of the proposed Executive Council map for the Granite State, which shows that it is gerrymandered and heavily packs Democratic-leaning voters into District 2. The independent, nonpartisan analysis is the third release of such data by the ACLU of New Hampshire in this redistricting cycle.
“New Hampshire voters are facing yet another unfair map designed to cheat the system—and this time, Executive Councilors have reportedly drawn districts specifically to choose their own voters,” said Devon Chaffee, Executive Director of the ACLU of New Hampshire. “We’ll keep saying it: every Granite State voice should be heard equally in our elections, and it should be the voters themselves that choose their politicians. Redistricting and gerrymandering impact the very foundation of our democracy, and we should all ask for these maps to be amended before they progress further.”
The quantitative analysis, conducted by FLO Analytics and commissioned by the ACLU of New Hampshire, looks specifically at the partisan lean of each Executive Council district under the Republican majority’s proposal.
The main takeaways from the analysis include the following:
- The proposed map would reduce the ability of Democratic-leaning voters to elect their favored candidates in Districts 1, 3, 4, and 5, while heavily concentrating democratic voters in District 2.
- The line drawing process appears to have prioritized partisan leanings over other redistricting criteria (e.g. following established boundaries, creating compact districts). For example, the boundary of District 2 bypasses nearby wards in favor of more distant wards, resulting in a high concentration of democratic voters, and the boundary of District 1 bypasses nearby wards in favor of more distant wards, reducing the number of democratic voters in District 3.