NH bill would divide presidential voters by district: ‘We want voters to feel their vote counts’
CONCORD, NH – New Hampshire lawmakers are seeking to mirror Maine and Nebraska and make it the third state to divide its presidential electors by congressional district in what a top Republican advocate called an attempt to give more power to voters.
Senate Bill 11, sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Bill Gannon and seven other Republicans, would award one presidential delegate to the winner of each of his two congressional districts and award two more to the winner of the statewide vote.
“Presidential electors in a congressional district shall vote for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates who received the highest number of votes in their respective congressional districts,” reads Senate Bill 11.
The bill will get its first committee hearing on Tuesday, Fox News Digital has learned.
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Republican lawmakers in New Hampshire are pushing legislation that would redistribute half of the state’s electoral votes by congressional district (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
The Granite State is known for its “First in the State” primary and the midnight primary on Election Day in the small community of Dixville Notch.
“We want to remain ‘First in the Country,'” Sandown’s Gannon told Fox News Digital.
“It’s a big, important thing. We want our voters to feel, ‘I got out and voted – my vote counts’.”
Gannon dismissed criticism from state Senate Minority Leader Rebecca Perkins Kwok, who told WMUR that Republicans should play “fair” and argued that state legislative maps are already “very rigged.”
“I think this is another example of how Republicans are kind of trying to change the system to suit their needs,” she told the news outlet.
Gannon disagreed. “She had a statement; ‘they’re trying to steal the vote’ or something – that’s not the case at all,” he said.
Gannon indicated that if the law had been in place in the contested 2000 presidential race, split electors would have benefited Democrats — even though Vice President Al Gore took the state under its current winner-takes-all system. In 2016, the split would have given Donald Trump to a single elector when Hillary Clinton took the state.
“I hope I get the support of the Democrats, unless they vote together. If they’re willing to look at the bill and say, ‘Jesus, it could benefit both parties.’ It will only represent the people more,” he said.
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Four New Hampshire electors are sworn in before Secretary of State Dave Scanlon, left, as the Electoral College vote takes place in capitals across the country, in Concord, New Hampshire, on Dec. 17, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
“That’s what we’re all about in New Hampshirerepresenting the will of the people.”
New Hampshire in particular has the largest state legislature in the country with 424 representatives. It overshadows the second-ranked Pennsylvania Legislature of 203 members.
Meanwhile, Democratic state Sen. Debra Altschiler slammed the bill and joked that if New Hampshire wants to follow Maine’s lead on this, there are other, more progressive initiatives the Legislature should take.
“This law is completely out of line with New Hampshire values,” Stratham’s Altschiller said.
“And if we, as New Hampshire, wanted to follow Maine’s lead, then we would have universal free lunch for all students, and we would have background checks on the purchase of firearms. But we don’t have that.”
“So we don’t always get our marching orders from other states.”
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A sign outside the state capitol building in Concord, New Hampshire, highlights the state’s esteemed position over the past century in holding the inaugural presidential election. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
In the past three presidential cycles, neighboring Maine has given its divided electors 3-1 to the Democratic nominee. Each time, Trump won one elector from the state’s rural, inland 2nd Congressional District.
The opposite was true in Nebraska in 2020 and 2024, when President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris each won a delegate from the Omaha-centered 2nd Congressional District. Trump earned the other four delegates – and before 2016, all the electors were often awarded to a Republican.
With Republicans holding a 16-8 supermajority in the state Senate, the bill is likely to pass the House later this month or in February. The measure would then head to the House of Representatives, where the GOP also has a large majority and where Republican lawmakers are likely to pass the bill.
