Artificial intelligence in elections generates apprehension and acceptance

By Rhianwen Watkins, Granite State News Collaborative

Ever since a robocall impersonating the voice of President Biden was transmitted around New Hampshire in January, experts in artificial intelligence and others involved in politics and government have expressed worries about the future impacts of the technology on upcoming elections.

The New Hampshire robocalls — transmitted on Jan. 21, just two days before the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary — used an AI-generated voice of Biden that urged the public not to show up to the polls to vote for Biden in the primary, falsely hinting that voting in the primary would prevent voters from casting a ballot in November’s general election.

At the end of the call, a phone number was provided claiming people could dial it to “opt out” of receiving more political calls. The number, however, belongs to Kathy Sullivan, former chair of the state Democratic Party and a well-known party activist who had nothing to do with the call.

“It was upsetting and just infuriating, because obviously, somebody was trying to suppress the vote,” Sullivan said. “Plus it’s a little creepy knowing that somebody was so malicious as to spoof my phone number. It just seemed kind of personal.”

The apparent attempt to suppress voting was tracked down to a political consultant named Steve Kramer. Kramer commissioned a New Orleans street magician who has experience in audio recording to create the robocall and hired two Texas companies to transmit the call. 

Kramer insisted in interviews with multiple news outlets that his only intention in making the robocall was to inform the public of the dangers of AI.  But Sullivan has her doubts.

“If that was true, if he was trying to do something so civic-minded, then why the hell did he spoof my phone number?” Sullivan said. She added that she thinks the inclusion of her number had an underlying motive to disrupt the Biden write-in effort, which Sullivan has urged voters to take part in, as well as staying vocal about her support for the president.

At the time the robocall was made, Kramer was working on the campaign of Dean Phillips, a Democratic congressman from Minnesota who was challenging Biden in the primary. The Phillips campaign paid Kramer over $250,000 for his services, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Phillips’s team has denied any involvement in the robocall.

As it stands, the state Attorney General’s Office is currently investigating Kramer and the robocall.

“I'm hoping that soon we'll hear something about them taking legal action against this fellow Kramer who was behind it,” said Sullivan. “The whole thing was such a bizarre experience and it’s not over yet.”

Fast-evolving

According to David Scanlan — who, as New Hampshire’s secretary of state, oversees elections in the state — one of the most difficult aspects of AI’s use in political campaigns is that people are still trying to understand the scope of it and have to play “catch-up” while it continues to quickly evolve.

“I think with what we saw here a few months ago, in New Hampshire, it's pretty clear that Pandora's box is open at this point,” said Jim Merrill, a Republican political consultant with Bernstein Shur who has worked on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio. “AI is a tool that we're seeing applications for in a variety of industries. So it's no surprise it's beginning to show up in political campaigns, and I think that's only going to increase in the months ahead.”

Merrill said responsibility will significantly fall on campaigns and their communications teams to respond quickly to misinformation about the candidates they are representing. However, news outlets also will have to be on alert, he emphasized, and be ready to quickly report on falsehoods as they appear.

Scanlan added that voters also have a responsibility to conduct their own research and discern for themselves what is and isn’t true as the elections draw closer.

“I think for everyone, there is some responsibility here to hopefully minimize the really negative and concerning impacts that AI can have on elections,” Merrill emphasized.

However, Jeremiah Johnson, associate professor of data science at the University of New Hampshire and an AI researcher, warned that it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell what is AI and what isn’t.

“There have been efforts to develop digital watermarks that would identify AI-generated content, but they're not very good, and they can be removed. So it's unclear whether that will provide any sort of solution,” Johnson said. “It just creates an environment where it becomes very difficult to trust anything aside from a flesh-and-blood human standing in front of you.”

Johnson added that AI-generated photos can sometimes be identified by spotting irregularities in peoples’ hands or teeth who appear in the images. 

One example was a fabricated photo that recently circulated depicting former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump surrounded by groups of Black people.

The image, in addition to having no connection to the Trump campaign, appeared to show people with peculiar-looking hands in strange lighting and made the former president’s face look ever-so-slightly different than usual. 

However, said Johnson, a lot of those telling details no longer exist in newer AI images. “The models are already past those issues,” he said. “So it's really a challenging problem.”

Merrill agreed.

“It's likely that we're going to see lifelike and realistic and compelling storylines that are completely fabricated for the benefit or to the detriment of someone or other. And I think we need to be really guarded and thoughtful about letting that influence us,” he said.  “It's going to be really important for everybody with a stake in this to just tread very carefully.”

Legislative action

The robocalls set into motion a number of bills regarding AI use that are currently circulating the New Hampshire Legislature.

Gov. Chris Sununu signed House Bill 1596 into law Aug. 2.would The bill requires “a disclosure of deceptive artificial intelligence usage in political advertising.”

The bill states that any audio or video recordings using AI must include a spoken statement at the end that says it was made using the technology. For visual media, the disclosure must be in text that is “easily readable by the average viewer and no smaller than the largest font size of other text appearing in the visual media.”

Beyond AI’s use in campaigns, another bill, Senate Bill 564,  which was signed May 31 passed in by the Senate and is now in the House, would expanded the ban against child sexual abuse images to include those generated by AI. 

Lawmakers also triedare also trying to pass SB 464 and HB 1319, bills that would expand the current law prohibiting the spreading of nonconsensual sexual images, to include those that are synthetic and AI-generated.

SB 464 was referred for interim study on Apr. 11, while HB 1319 received the governor’s signature July 22.

HB 1688 was also signed into law in Julyis also being considered this legislative session. It looks to prohibit state agencies from using AI to “manipulate, discriminate, or surveil members of the public.”

In addition to statewide bills, the New Hampshire robocall and the furor it caused prompted the Federal Communications Commission to place a ban on robocalls using AI-generated voices as of mid-February.

Sullivan said she is hopeful that at least some of this legislation will pass in the 2024 session.

Responding and adapting

Despite AI proving to have significant negative influences, Scanlan and Merrill said they felt it could hold some potential benefits as well, if used without malicious intentions.

 “A campaign functions on vast amounts of data,” said Merrill. “It's not difficult for me to see how AI may function to allow campaigns to more carefully craft messages and advertising.” 

Scanlan added that it can be a helpful tool in informing voters.

 “If voters have questions, you can use AI as a search engine that can give a very quick and accurate response on how the election process works,” he said.

 “It's making sure that those beneficial applications are promoted,” said Merrill.

However, Johnson said he felt more “skeptical” of positives coming from AI.

In any case, Scanlan said AI is an inevitable part of the future, and the key is learning how to navigate it. 

“Candidates and supporters of candidates are always looking for a way to gain some leverage or get a leg up on their opponent, and sometimes they push the limits. And that has always been true,” said Scanlan. “Now AI is just another opportunity for that to happen.”

Merrill echoed this.

“It's probably the tip of the iceberg of what we might expect in the months and years ahead,” Merrill said. “A smart campaign is going to figure out that this is part of the new reality. We can't stick our head in the sand over it. We need to be ready to address it if and when something happens.”

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

What’s the difference between a school district and a school administrative unit?

By Rhianwen Watkins, Granite State News Collaborative

What is a school board?

Each of New Hampshire’s 162 public school districts has its own school board, which is the legislative body responsible for making decisions, on a local level, regarding the district’s K-12 schools. 

A school board has three jobs, according to Dover school board member Micaela Demeter: to hire the superintendent; write and adopt policies for the school district; and set the district’s budget. School board members are elected for two- or three-year  terms.

New Hampshire has over 900 elected school board members collectively, ranking the N.H. School Boards Association as one the largest groups of elected officials in New Hampshire.

How can I find out if there are school board elections this year in my district?

Many cities in New Hampshire hold their school board elections in November. Most towns hold their elections in March. However, some districts hold elections at other times throughout the year as well. Not all districts hold an election every year either, as it depends on when a member has a term that is up for either re-election or to be replaced by a new candidate in the running.

Demeter explained that sometimes members on a board will all have the same termination date in order to elect a “clean slate” each election. This is the case in Dover. However, other boards will have staggered termination dates to “ensure that you don't have a complete or large turnover from term to term,” she said. 

The most common way to find out if your town or city is holding a school board election, is by visiting your town or city council website. If it is, there is often a sample ballot on the website which will list all board members running for election and re-election.

What is an SAU board?

SAU stands for School Administrative Unit. SAUs hold a different set of responsibilities than school boards. They oversee the business and administrative operations of each district and school board in their respective units.  These operations include managing employee benefits of educators and school personnel for the district, bookkeeping and accounting, as well as overseeing curriculum requirements across all member districts.

What is the debate over SAUs?

In past decades, changes have been made to the SAU system, which have raised questions about the role of SAUs.

A major shift in 1987 included the elimination of a maximum of 60 SAUs allowed in New Hampshire, causing districts to form new SAUs. Another shift came in 1996 with the elimination of the requirement for districts to get permission from the Department of Education before leaving an SAU and joining a new one.

Since the 1980s, the number of SAUs in New Hampshire has risen from 53 to 105, despite a decline over time in the number of school-aged children residing in New Hampshire. These changes have resulted in a large number of SAUs only having one school or district within them, sparking the question of whether SAUs are necessary at this point, and whether New Hampshire should allow districts to choose not to be a part of an SAU.

Arguments in favor of this include the idea that school boards could take on the jobs of the SAU fairly easily, and the possibility that it could save taxpayers money by eliminating the need for SAU employees and facilities.

However, others argue that SAUs provide important leadership roles and maintain a level of accountability. People who feel this way sometimes argue SAUs should go back to requiring multiple districts beneath them, which could facilitate more sharing of educational approaches and resources.

Demeter feels SAUs serve an important purpose in maintaining economies of scale.

“In New Hampshire, we have some districts that have just a couple dozen students in the entire town. So in districts like that, the SAU model allows for different, smaller communities to work together,” she said, “Because it is expensive to have a curriculum director. It's expensive to have a superintendent, an assistant superintendent, a facilities director – you know, all of these administrative level positions.”

These, and others, are SAU positions that make district-level decisions. People are hired into these positions, as opposed to elected by the community. 


The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

What is a regional planning commission and what does it do?

By Rhianwen Watkins, Granite State News Collaborative


There are nine regional planning commissions across New Hampshire, responsible for assisting with and providing resources for community development projects in member municipalities.

It is not mandatory for every municipality to be a part of a regional planning commission, but over 90 percent of the state’s 234 towns and cities participate in one. 

Support from planning commissions may include helping municipalities create master plans, creating inventories of local natural resources, finding funds for transportation and infrastructure developments, helping cities and towns secure funding from state and federal grant programs, and much more.

They hold hold three main areas of expertise:

 • Data management and development, which includes Geographic Information Systems and their work as an affiliate of the U.S. Census Data Center.

  • Providing land use, environmental planning  and community development services to member towns and cities. Those services include overseeing master plans, zoning ordinances and land regulations, environmental planning, economic planning  and emergency management planning, which includes hazard mitigation in communities.

  • Transportation planning and technical assistance, which includes creating and maintaining plans for different forms of transportation in the region. Transit analysis, technical assistance and other measures contribute to this.

In addition, each regional planning commission is required, by New Hampshire statute, to create a regional comprehensive plan, conduct a housing needs assessment and review significant economic developments that could have an impact on the region.

The housing needs assessment –  a tool used in understanding what the housing crisis looks like in different regions across the state –  outlines recommendations and resources for addressing the issue, based on what makes sense for each region

Every town or city that is a member, is allowed two, three or four  representatives in the planning commission, depending on the size of the municipality’s population.

Representatives are nominated by the planning board of each town or city, and appointed by the municipal officer.

The nine regional planning commissions are: 

 • The North Country Council,, whose region consists of 50 communities and 25 unincorporated places in the northern third of New Hampshire.

• The Lakes Region Planning Commission, which covers 31 communities across four counties – parts of Belknap, Carroll, Grafton and Merrimack counties.

• Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission, which covers 27 municipalities in Grafton, Sullivan and Merrimack counties.

 • Southwest Region Planning Commission, whose region is made up of 34 towns and cities in Cheshire, Hillsborough and Sullivan counties.

 • Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission, which serves 20 communities surrounding Concord in Merrimack and Hillsborough counties.

 •   Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission, which serves 14 communities around Manchester. 

 • Nashua Regional Planning Commission, which works with 13 communities surrounding Nashua.

 • Rockingham Planning Commission, which serves 27 communities in Rockingham County.

 • Strafford Regional Planning Commission, which serves 17 communities, most of them in Strafford County.


The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

Artificial intelligence in elections generates apprehension and acceptance

By Rhianwen Watkins, Granite State News Collaborative


Ever since a robocall impersonating the voice of President Biden was transmitted around New Hampshire in January, experts in artificial intelligence and others involved in politics and government have expressed worries about the future impacts of the technology on upcoming elections.

The New Hampshire robocalls — transmitted on Jan. 21, just two days before the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary — used an AI-generated voice of Biden that urged the public not to show up to the polls to vote for Biden in the primary, falsely hinting that voting in the primary would prevent voters from casting a ballot in November’s general election.

At the end of the call, a phone number was provided claiming people could dial it to “opt out” of receiving more political calls. The number, however, belongs to Kathy Sullivan, former chair of the state Democratic Party and a well-known party activist who had nothing to do with the call.

“It was upsetting and just infuriating, because obviously, somebody was trying to suppress the vote,” Sullivan said. “Plus it’s a little creepy knowing that somebody was so malicious as to spoof my phone number. It just seemed kind of personal.”

The apparent attempt to suppress voting was tracked down to a political consultant named Steve Kramer. Kramer commissioned a New Orleans street magician who has experience in audio recording to create the robocall and hired two Texas companies to transmit the call. 

Kramer insisted in interviews with multiple news outlets that his only intention in making the robocall was to inform the public of the dangers of AI.  But Sullivan has her doubts.

“If that was true, if he was trying to do something so civic-minded, then why the hell did he spoof my phone number?” Sullivan said. She added that she thinks the inclusion of her number had an underlying motive to disrupt the Biden write-in effort, which Sullivan has urged voters to take part in, as well as staying vocal about her support for the president.

At the time the robocall was made, Kramer was working on the campaign of Dean Phillips, a Democratic congressman from Minnesota who was challenging Biden in the primary. The Phillips campaign paid Kramer over $250,000 for his services, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Phillips’s team has denied any involvement in the robocall.

As it stands, the state Attorney General’s Office is currently investigating Kramer and the robocall.

“I'm hoping that soon we'll hear something about them taking legal action against this fellow Kramer who was behind it,” said Sullivan. “The whole thing was such a bizarre experience and it’s not over yet.”

Fast-evolving

According to David Scanlan — who, as New Hampshire’s secretary of state, oversees elections in the state — one of the most difficult aspects of AI’s use in political campaigns is that people are still trying to understand the scope of it and have to play “catch-up” while it continues to quickly evolve.

“I think with what we saw here a few months ago, in New Hampshire, it's pretty clear that Pandora's box is open at this point,” said Jim Merrill, a Republican political consultant with Bernstein Shur who has worked on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio. “AI is a tool that we're seeing applications for in a variety of industries. So it's no surprise it's beginning to show up in political campaigns, and I think that's only going to increase in the months ahead.”

Merrill said responsibility will significantly fall on campaigns and their communications teams to respond quickly to misinformation about the candidates they are representing. However, news outlets also will have to be on alert, he emphasized, and be ready to quickly report on falsehoods as they appear.

Scanlan added that voters also have a responsibility to conduct their own research and discern for themselves what is and isn’t true as the elections draw closer.

“I think for everyone, there is some responsibility here to hopefully minimize the really negative and concerning impacts that AI can have on elections,” Merrill emphasized.

However, Jeremiah Johnson, associate professor of data science at the University of New Hampshire and an AI researcher, warned that it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell what is AI and what isn’t.

“There have been efforts to develop digital watermarks that would identify AI-generated content, but they're not very good, and they can be removed. So it's unclear whether that will provide any sort of solution,” Johnson said. “It just creates an environment where it becomes very difficult to trust anything aside from a flesh-and-blood human standing in front of you.”

Johnson added that AI-generated photos can sometimes be identified by spotting irregularities in peoples’ hands or teeth who appear in the images. 

One example was a fabricated photo that recently circulated depicting former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump surrounded by groups of Black people.

The image, in addition to having no connection to the Trump campaign, appeared to show people with peculiar-looking hands in strange lighting and made the former president’s face look ever-so-slightly different than usual. 

However, said Johnson, a lot of those telling details no longer exist in newer AI images. “The models are already past those issues,” he said. “So it's really a challenging problem.”

Merrill agreed.

“It's likely that we're going to see lifelike and realistic and compelling storylines that are completely fabricated for the benefit or to the detriment of someone or other. And I think we need to be really guarded and thoughtful about letting that influence us,” he said.  “It's going to be really important for everybody with a stake in this to just tread very carefully.”

Legislative action

The robocalls set into motion a number of bills regarding AI use that are currently circulating the New Hampshire Legislature.

Gov. Chris Sununu signed House Bill 1596 into law Aug. 2. The bill requires “a disclosure of deceptive artificial intelligence usage in political advertising.”

The bill states that any audio or video recordings using AI must include a spoken statement at the end that says it was made using the technology. For visual media, the disclosure must be in text that is “easily readable by the average viewer and no smaller than the largest font size of other text appearing in the visual media.”

Beyond AI’s use in campaigns, another bill, Senate Bill 564, which was signed May 31, expanded the ban against child sexual abuse images to include those generated by AI. 

Lawmakers also tried to pass SB 464 and HB 1319, bills that would expand the current law prohibiting the spreading of nonconsensual sexual images, to include those that are synthetic and AI-generated.

SB 464 was referred for interim study on Apr. 11, while HB 1319 received the governor’s signature July 22.

HB 1688 was also signed into law in July. It looks to prohibit state agencies from using AI to “manipulate, discriminate, or surveil members of the public.”

In addition to statewide bills, the New Hampshire robocall and the furor it caused prompted the Federal Communications Commission to place a ban on robocalls using AI-generated voices as of mid-February.

Responding and adapting

Despite AI proving to have significant negative influences, Scanlan and Merrill said they felt it could hold some potential benefits as well, if used without malicious intentions.

 “A campaign functions on vast amounts of data,” said Merrill. “It's not difficult for me to see how AI may function to allow campaigns to more carefully craft messages and advertising.” 

Scanlan added that it can be a helpful tool in informing voters.

 “If voters have questions, you can use AI as a search engine that can give a very quick and accurate response on how the election process works,” he said.

 “It's making sure that those beneficial applications are promoted,” said Merrill.

However, Johnson said he felt more “skeptical” of positives coming from AI.

In any case, Scanlan said AI is an inevitable part of the future, and the key is learning how to navigate it. 

 “Candidates and supporters of candidates are always looking for a way to gain some leverage or get a leg up on their opponent, and sometimes they push the limits. And that has always been true,” said Scanlan. “Now AI is just another opportunity for that to happen.”

Merrill echoed this.

“It's probably the tip of the iceberg of what we might expect in the months and years ahead,” Merrill said. “A smart campaign is going to figure out that this is part of the new reality. We can't stick our head in the sand over it. We need to be ready to address it if and when something happens.”

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

¿Cómo navegar por la desinformación electoral en línea?

Para identificar desinformación en línea, hay que cuestionarse la noticia, consultar varias fuentes y exponerse a diferentes puntos de vista.

Por James Rinker, Keene Sentinel

 Después de los debates presidenciales republicanos, múltiples afirmaciones hechas por los candidatos han sido objeto de verificación de hechos y/o datos.

Politifact, un sitio web de verificación de datos sin fines de lucro, examinó 20 afirmaciones que los candidatos hicieron durante el tercer debate en noviembre de 2023 sobre temas que van desde la guerra Rusia-Ucrania hasta el medio ambiente y el aborto. Reuters examinó las afirmaciones hechas sobre el enfoque de la administración Biden hacia la guerra entre Israel y Hamas. Ambos informes muestran que más de la mitad de las afirmaciones carecían de contexto o eran engañosas.

A medida que nos acercamos a las primarias presidenciales en menos de dos semanas, la rápida difusión de información errónea en línea es uno de los mayores desafíos que enfrentan los votantes, dijo Phil Barker, profesor de ciencias políticas en Keene State College.

"La información errónea y la desinformación se difunden mucho más rápido que la información real en línea", afirmó. Y a medida que más personas buscan noticias a través de las redes sociales, mayores son las posibilidades de encontrar información errónea, añadió.

Los estadounidenses entre 16 y 40 años consumen noticias de al menos seis fuentes diferentes semanalmente, según un estudio de 2022 del Media Insight Project, una iniciativa de investigación que examina los hábitos de los consumidores de noticias en Estados Unidos.

Esas fuentes incluyen no solo medios de comunicación nacionales y locales como periódicos y televisión, sino también una variedad de plataformas de redes sociales como Facebook, Instagram y TikTok.

"Con todo eso junto y dejándonos solos para resolverlo todo, no estamos particularmente preparados para lidiar con ello", dijo Barker.

Mientras el país se prepara para otro año electoral, The Sentinel habló con dos expertos que dicen que la clave para identificar información errónea en línea es detenerse y cuestionar lo que se está viendo o escuchando; consultar múltiples fuentes para recopilar noticias e información confiables; e incluso si se está de acuerdo con lo que está leyendo, buscar diferentes puntos de vista para combatir el sesgo de confirmación.

La raíz de nuestras interacciones

Cuanto más fuertes sean sus creencias sobre un tema en particular, más fácil resultará creer en la historia que se alinea con sus propias creencias, incluso si no es cierta.

"Ya sea positiva o negativamente, es muy fácil utilizar información falsa para explotar nuestro sesgo de confirmación", dijo John Silva, director senior de aprendizaje profesional y comunitario del News Literacy Project, una organización nacional no partidista de educación sin fines de lucro. El sesgo de confirmación ocurre cuando inconscientemente buscamos información que se alinee con nuestro propio sesgo implícito o las cosas en las que creemos.

"No estamos tratando de ver si en realidad es cierto, solo [confirmar] que se alinea con lo que creemos que es cierto", dijo.

Otra cosa que las personas tienden a hacer cuando se exponen a las noticias, se conoce como razonamiento motivado, una forma de pensar en la que las personas buscan e interpretan activamente información que respalde sus propias creencias.

Es más probable que rechacemos noticias e información que no coincidan con nuestra visión del mundo y aceptemos aquellas que sí lo hacen, dijo Barker. Y cuando se trata de encontrar información en línea, se agrega otra capa: la respuesta emocional.

“La gente se siente atraída o reacciona con más fuerza ante publicaciones e información que provocan miedo, ira y emociones fuertes. Es parte de la naturaleza humana”, afirmó. "Incluso si eres hábil para clasificarlos, este tipo de publicaciones e información errónea están diseñadas para provocar una reacción tuya".

Cómo navegar por la información errónea

El primer paso para examinar la información errónea es ser consciente de su procedencia, afirmó Silva.

"Hay una increíble variedad de malos actores: personas que intentan activamente manipularnos para que tengamos creencias falsas", dijo. “Tenemos que participar activamente para prevenirlo por nuestra cuenta. No podemos esperar a que alguien más lo haga”.

Dijo que es importante reconocer cuándo caemos en lo que él llama una "cámara de eco". Este es un entorno donde una persona solo encuentra información u opiniones que reflejan y refuerzan las suyas.

Haciéndonos preguntas como: "¿Solo obtengo mi información de fuentes que están de acuerdo conmigo?" y “¿Me estoy permitiendo que se cuestionen mis puntos de vista?” puede ayudar a ampliar las fuentes que consultamos para obtener información.

Silva dijo que a veces las personas también tienen que entablar conversaciones incómodas y difíciles, como hablar con personas con las que no están de acuerdo, para no quedar atrapados en la cámara de eco.

"Consideremos aquellas fuentes que están siendo excluidas", dijo. "No tienes que estar de acuerdo con eso, no tienes que incorporarlo a tu visión del mundo, pero tienes que estar abierto a escuchar lo que otras personas tienen que decir".

Al interactuar con contenido en línea, existen algunas herramientas y estrategias que se pueden utilizar para asegurarse de que sea confiable.

El método SIFT (Stop, Investigate, Find, Trace), desarrollado por el experto en alfabetización digital Mike Caulfield, es una serie de acciones que puede realizar para determinar la validez y confiabilidad de afirmaciones y fuentes en línea.

1. Stop- Deténgase. Ya sea que esté totalmente de acuerdo o en desacuerdo con una publicación en las redes sociales, debe detenerse y considerar si es objetiva o no antes de compartirla.

"Si es algo que has visto publicado en las redes sociales, eso no significa que esté mal, pero debes verificarlo", dijo Barker. "Especialmente si genera una reacción, deberías profundizar un poco más en ello".

2. Investigate-Investigue la fuente. Pregúntese si la fuente de noticias tiene buena reputación. Existen sitios web confiables de verificación de datos, como Politifact, Factcheck.org  y Factchequeado, que pueden usarse para investigar las afirmaciones hechas por la fuente.

Y sea escéptico con la fuente, incluso con las organizaciones de noticias.

“Es fácil dejarse llevar por los grandes medios nacionales y lo que informan, pero las elecciones locales y la cobertura noticiosa local de las elecciones probablemente tengan un impacto mucho mayor en su vida”, dijo Silva.

3. Find-Encuentre fuentes confiables adicionales. Trate de no depender de las mismas fuentes de información todo el tiempo. Barker les dice a sus estudiantes en sus cursos que busquen múltiples fuentes en todo el espectro político.

"Si crees que el New York Times es demasiado liberal, entonces mira el Wall Street Journal", dijo. "Mira las otras fuentes de noticias que existen".

Si no puede encontrar otras dos o tres fuentes confiables que respalden las afirmaciones hechas con evidencia, entonces la información que tiene puede no ser cierta.

4. Trace-Rastree la información hasta su contexto original. Los dos tipos más comunes de información errónea que se encuentran en línea son el contexto falso o el contenido manipulado, dijo Silva.

El contexto falso es algo que se ha sacado de su contexto original y ahora se utiliza para corroborar falsamente una afirmación. El contenido manipulado es un poco más deliberativo, afirmó, y se crea cuando algo se toma de su forma original y se cambia con la intención de engañar.

"Es común con las imágenes, ya que las herramientas de edición de fotografías son muy fáciles de encontrar y utilizar ahora", dijo Silva. "Puedes cambiar un mensaje en un letrero o una camiseta o quitar algo de una imagen y hacer que diga lo que quieras".

El News Literacy Project creó un verificador de datos en línea llamado RumorGuard para identificar información errónea como esas imágenes alteradas que se están volviendo virales en línea, y para brindar consejos sobre cómo detectar y detener tendencias similares.

Hay una tendencia a que la gente se sienta desanimada o cínica debido a la gran cantidad de información errónea que circula en línea, dijo Barker. Sin embargo, la situación tiene un lado positivo.

“Esa es la belleza de Internet. Nos trae información errónea, pero también nos proporciona las herramientas para investigar”.

James Rinker es el periodista de participación comunitaria digital de The Sentinel. Puede comunicarse con él en jrinker@keenesentinel.com o al (603) 355-8569. Síguelo en X: @JamesRinkerKS

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

How to navigate election misinformation online

By James Rinker, The Keene Sentinel

Throughout the Republican presidential debates, multiple claims made by the candidates have been subject to fact-checking.

Politifact, a nonprofit fact-checking website, examined 20 claims candidates made during the third debate in November on topics ranging from the Russia-Ukraine War to the environment and abortion. Reuters looked into claims made about the Biden administration’s approach to the Israel-Hamas war. Both reports show over half of the claims made were either missing context or misleading.

As we approach the presidential primaries, starting with New Hampshire’s on Jan. 23, the rapid spread of misinformation online is one of the biggest challenges facing voters, said Phil Barker, a political science professor at Keene State College.

“Misinformation and disinformation spread far quicker than the actual information online,” he said. And as more people look to find their news through social media, the higher the chances of encountering misinformation, he added.

Americans ages 16 to 40 consume news from at least six different sources at least weekly, according to a 2022 study by the Media Insight Project, a research initiative that examines the habits of news consumers in the United States.

Those sources include not only national and local news outlets like newspapers and broadcast TV, but also a range of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

“With all that together and being left on our own to sort through it all, we’re not particularly equipped to deal with it,” said Barker.

As the country prepares for another election year, The Sentinel spoke with two experts who say the key to identifying misinformation online is to stop and question what you’re seeing or hearing; consult multiple sources to gather reliable news and information; and even if you agree with what you’re reading, seek out different viewpoints to combat confirmation bias.

The root of our interactions

The stronger your beliefs are about a particular topic, the easier it is for you to believe in the story that aligns with your own beliefs — even if it isn’t true.

“Either positively or negatively, it’s very easy to use false information to exploit our confirmation bias, “ said John Silva, the senior director of professional and community learning for the News Literacy Project, a national nonpartisan education nonprofit. Confirmation bias is when we unconsciously seek out information that aligns with our own implicit bias, or the things we believe in.

“We’re not trying to see if it’s actually true, just that it aligns with what we think is true,” he said.

Another thing people tend to do when interacting with the news is known as motivated reasoning, a way of thinking in which people actively search for and interpret information that supports their own beliefs.

We’re more likely to reject news and information that doesn’t line up with our worldview and accept those that do, said Barker. And when it comes to finding information online, another layer is added: our emotional response to it.

“People are drawn or react more strongly to posts and information that strike fear and anger, strong emotions. It’s a part of human nature,” he said. “Even if you’re skilled at sorting through it, these sorts of posts and misinformation are designed to get a reaction from you.”

How to navigate misinformation

The first step towards sifting through misinformation is to be aware of where it is coming from, Silva said.

“There is an incredible array of bad actors — people actively trying to manipulate us into false beliefs,“ he said. “We have to be actively engaged in preventing that for ourselves. We can’t wait for somebody to do that for ourselves.”

He said it’s important to recognize when we fall into what he calls an “echo chamber.” This is an environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own.

Asking ourselves questions like, “Am I only getting my information from sources that agree with me?” and “Am I allowing myself to have my views challenged?” can help expand the sources we consult for information.

Silva said that sometimes people also have to engage in uncomfortable and difficult conversations, like talking with people they disagree with, so we don’t get stuck in the echo chamber.

“Consider those sources that are being excluded,” he said. “You don’t have to agree with it, you don’t have to incorporate it into your worldview, but you have to be open to hearing what other people have to say.”

When engaging with content online, there are a few tools and strategies to use to make sure it’s trustworthy.

The SIFT Method — which was developed by digital literacy expert Mike Caulfield — is a series of actions you can take in order to determine the validity and reliability of claims and sources online.

1. Stop. Whether you find yourself strongly agreeing or disagreeing with a social media post, you should stop and consider whether or not it’s factual before sharing it.

“If it’s just something you’ve seen posted on social media, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong, but you should verify it,” said Barker. “Especially if it generates a reaction, you should look a bit deeper into it.”

2. Investigate the source. Ask yourself if the news source is reputable. There are reliable fact-checking websites, such as Politifact and Factcheck.org, that can be used to investigate claims being made by the source.

And be skeptical of the source, even news organizations.

“It’s easy to get swept up in the big national outlets and what they’re reporting, but local elections and local news coverage of elections probably have a far larger impact on your life,” said Silva.

3. Find additional trusted sources. Try not to rely on the same sources of information all the time. Barker tells his students in his courses to seek out multiple sources across the political spectrum.

“If you think that the New York Times is too liberal, then look at the Wall Street Journal,” he said. ”Look at the other news sources out there.”

If you can’t find two or three other reputable sources who support the claims being made with evidence, then the information you have might not be true.

4. Trace the information back to its original context. The two most common types of misinformation found online are either false context or manipulated content, said Silva.

False context is something that has been taken out of its original context and is now being used to falsely corroborate a claim. Manipulated content is a little more deliberative, he said. Manipulated content is a little more deliberative, and is created when something is taken from its original form and changed with the intent to deceive.

“It’s common with images since photo editing tools are very easy to find and use now,” Silva said. “You can change a message on a sign or a t-shirt or take something out of an image, and make it say whatever you want.”

The News Literacy Project created an online fact-checker called RumorGuard to identify misinformation like those altered images that are going viral online and provide tips on how to spot and stop similar trends.

There’s a tendency for people to feel discouraged or cynical because of the vast amount of misinformation circulating online, said Barker. However, there’s a silver lining to the situation.

“That’s the beauty of the Internet. It brings us the misinformation, but it provides us the tools to do that digging, too.”

James Rinker is The Sentinel’s digital community engagement journalist. He can be reached at jrinker@keenesentinel.com, or at (603) 355-8569. Follow them on Twitter @JamesRinkerKS

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

New Hampshire voter fraud: 15 convictions since 2016

Officials say few cases, no systemic problem

By Mark Hayward, NH Business Review

When the presidential primary takes place early next year, would-be voters who register at the polls will face a new law designed to thwart illegal voting.

If the newly minted voters don’t produce an ID, they will be registered and their votes will be counted that night. But the votes will also be segregated, and if the voters don’t produce proper paperwork, such as a valid ID, in seven days, their vote will be thrown out.

A supporter of the law, known as SB418, said it helps to shore up confidence in the state elections while keeping any barriers at a minimum.

“Jan Six doesn’t happen if you have a system people look at and believe is not being abused,” said state Rep. Ross Berry, R-Manchester, the chairman of the House Election Law Committee. “Jan Six” refers to Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of defeated President Trump stormed the Capitol to prevent final counting of Electoral College votes.

Detractors say the law, which survived an early court challenge in November, is overkill and fits in with Trump’s “Big Lie,” which claims massive voter fraud and rigged elections were responsible for his defeat.

“It (the new law) is just another way to scare people and keep them from voting,” said state Rep. Connie Lane, the ranking Democrat on the Election Law Committee. “It’s not an issue of fraud, they don’t want the (college) students voting.”

For most of this century, politicians and the press have focused on elections and the potential for fraud and misconduct. Controversies range from the hanging chads of Florida ballots in 2000 to Republican Gov. Chris Sununu’s never proven 2016 claim of Democrats “busing people all over the place.”

The year after Sununu’s statement, the state launched the Election Law Unit within the Attorney General’s Office.

The Unit investigates a host of election-related complaints including campaign finance, election official misconduct, illegal campaign activity and voter fraud. It has won about 15 voter fraud convictions since 2016, said Attorney General spokesman Michael Garrity.

“New Hampshire has elections that are decided by one or two votes so even a couple fraudulent votes in an election can make a difference,” he said.

Investigations and reviews have determined there is no systemic wrongful voting in New Hampshire.

With an active, highly engaged population and seriously minded local poll workers who know their communities, fraud is rare, he said.

Complaints come from election officials, rival campaigns and regular citizens. The most arise during the general election in presidential years, when more people are voting and more people are paying attention, Garrity said.

In the last two years, the Election Law Unit has investigated 36 cases of voter fraud. And Garrity said New Hampshire has tallied more convictions for voter fraud in the recent past than the other five New England states, combined, citing a data base maintained by the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation.

Every six months, the Election Law Unit publishes a tally of the complaints it has received and the status of investigations.

Officials logged 12 complaints of wrongful voting in the second half of 2022; five were closed out and seven remained open as of Sept.27.

Convictions over the years have involved out-of-state people voting in New Hampshire, people with homes in New Hampshire and another state voting in both states, and people voting in two different New Hampshire locations.

Most are placed on probation, fined and lose their right to vote. At least one was incarcerated for six months.

A review of files finds some amusing cases. 

In Litchfield in 2020, election workers became suspicious when they saw the same handwriting for a man and his wife on absentee ballot paperwork.

The man admitted signing for both him and his incapacitated wife, and voting for her, too.

“(Name redacted) stated that he and his wife have been married for 30 to 35 years … (and) that he knows who his wife would vote for,” reads a report.  Election Law investigator Richard Tracy convinced him that he was not allowed to vote on behalf of his wife, he agreed, and the case was closed.

Last year in Chester, a local resident who is a British citizen confessed to town officials he had been voting since 2015. He had believed that as a town resident and homeowner he was allowed to vote but had recently learned of his error during an immigration proceeding.

The town road agent and a selectman vouched for his honesty. State officials issued a cease and desist order, which prevents him from voting unless he becomes a citizen.

Every case is unique, Garrity said.

“We go where the facts and the law take us and make the best decisions we can in the interests of justice,” he said.

Election Law officials say the number of cases and complaints increased with the launch of the Election Law Unit, but has been stable since then.

“It’s clearly not widespread,” Lane, the Democratic state representative, said about voter fraud. 

Berry agrees and acknowledges some hyperbole in years past.

“These people who say there are convoys of buses coming up on election day, it’s untrue,” he said. 

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

El impacto de las encuestas políticas y cómo las debería interpretar el público este 2024

Con múltiples fuentes en todo el país realizando encuestas, es importante entender cómo interpretarlas, en qué fuentes confiar y cómo pueden tener un impacto en votantes.

Por Rhianwen Watkins , Granite State News Collaborative

Una vez asegurados los candidatos presidenciales de los dos principales partidos políticos, la atención se centra en las elecciones generales de noviembre. Y New Hampshire, aunque es un estado pequeño, vuelve a desempeñar un papel importante.

Mientras que el llamado “estado púrpura” — la delegación del Congreso de New Hampshire está formada por todos los demócratas, mientras que el gobernador Chris Sununu es gobernador y ambas cámaras de la legislatura están controladas por republicanos—, también es llamado un “estado indeciso”, en teoría podría ir en cualquier dirección cuando los Granite Staters se unan al resto del país para elegir un nuevo presidente en noviembre.

Y es por eso que los encuestadores locales y nacionales todavía están midiendo el temperamento político de New Hampshire, y con múltiples fuentes en todo el país realizando encuestas, es importante entender cómo interpretarlas, en qué fuentes confiar y cómo pueden tener un impacto en votantes.

Chris Galdieri, profesor de ciencias políticas en Saint Anselm College, cuyo centro de encuestas realiza encuestas periódicamente, define a las encuestas como una “medida de las opiniones de un gran grupo de personas encuestando a un segmento más pequeño de ese grupo de personas”.

Según Geoffrey Skelley, analista electoral senior de FiveThirtyEight (una organización que agrega, promedia y luego analiza encuestas existentes para buscar tendencias), las encuestas son beneficiosas porque ayudan a los votantes a comprender las opiniones de las personas que los rodean sobre temas específicos, y a evaluar cómo les está yendo a los candidatos, de su agrado o no, durante un año electoral. Ver, por ejemplo, qué candidatos están por delante o cuáles terminan abandonando una candidatura puede influir en la forma en que la gente termina votando, dijo.

Galdieri añadió que las encuestas permiten a la gente entender cómo votan otros fuera de un contexto electoral. Por ejemplo, el hecho de que un partido gane las elecciones legislativas estatales no significa necesariamente que todos en el estado tengan las mismas posiciones que ese partido tiene en todos los temas.

"Las encuestas pueden decirte: 'Está bien, la opinión está realmente dividida sobre este tema... o piensan lo mismo sobre este tema, pero por alguna razón, no necesariamente votaron de esa manera".

Cómo funcionan las encuestas

Una preocupación común es cómo los encuestadores garantizan que un grupo de muestra en una encuesta sea representativo de la población total. 

"Esa es la cuestión con la que los encuestadores han estado lidiando durante los últimos 10 o 15 años", dijo Galdieri.

“A finales del siglo 20  y principios del 21, había una forma bastante sencilla de realizar encuestas: marcar números de teléfono al azar. Y como básicamente todo el mundo tenía un teléfono fijo, era una forma bastante buena y fiable de obtener una muestra bastante aleatoria de la población”, dijo. 

“Lo que hace la vida más difícil para los encuestadores hoy en día es, en primer lugar, que muy pocas personas tienen teléfonos fijos. Y si lo hacen, no les contestan”.

Galdieri dijo que los teléfonos inteligentes son una barrera para las encuestas porque muchos bloquean automáticamente números desconocidos o las personas les dejan ir al correo de voz.

John Lappie, profesor de política en la Plymouth State University, dijo que otra dificultad al llamar a teléfonos celulares es que los códigos de área no siempre se correlacionan con el lugar donde realmente vive la persona.

“Si llamas a un teléfono fijo y es un número 603, ese número está en New Hampshire. Si llamas a un número de móvil 603, es posible que se hayan mudado a Florida hace 10 años”.

Lappie añadió que, sin embargo, confiar únicamente en las respuestas de los teléfonos fijos puede dar lugar a una representación inexacta de la población. “Esto tiende a significar que son privilegiadas las personas de las zonas rurales que sólo tienen líneas fijas frente a las de las zonas urbanas que quizá sólo tengan un teléfono móvil, e impide que los más jóvenes respondan”.

Hoy en día, la nueva opción es enviar mensajes de texto a números aleatorios, enviar correos electrónicos a personas al azar y crear encuestas en línea, dijo Lappie. Sin embargo, destacó que las encuestas actuales son en general un poco menos precisas que hace 20 años, cuando todo el mundo tenía un teléfono fijo y las personas estaban más abiertas a responder a las encuestas.

Interpretando las encuestas

Para Skelley, la forma más precisa de interpretar las encuestas es observar un promedio de muchas encuestas en lugar de una sola encuesta.

“Una encuesta podría ser un valor atípico, o una encuesta podría decirte algo que no es realmente un indicador preciso de la carrera porque, al final del día, estás hablando de un error de muestreo y otras formas de errores entran en cualquier encuesta, ya sea realizada por un encuestador acreditado o no”, dijo Skelley.

Éste es el margen de error, explicó Lappie. Además del margen de error, las encuestas también utilizarán intervalos de confianza, que son otra forma de mostrar el margen de error en forma de porcentaje. El estándar utilizado es el 95%.

Lappie compartió un ejemplo hipotético:

“Digamos que atraigo a 1,000 votantes probables de New Hampshire. En esa muestra de 1,000, [la mitad] apoya a Biden. Ahora bien, no podemos decir que sólo porque el 50% de la muestra apoye a Biden significa que el 50% de todos los probables votantes de New Hampshire apoyan a Biden. No le preguntamos a todo el mundo, sólo le preguntamos a 1,000”, dijo. 

Siguió explicando: “Entonces, si nuestro margen de error es 3, y en nuestra muestra sabemos que el 50% apoyó a Biden, estamos 95 % seguros de que entre todos los probables votantes de New Hampshire, entre el 47 y el 53% apoyan a Biden”.

El tamaño del margen de error está determinado por el tamaño de la muestra. Los tamaños de muestra más grandes tienen márgenes de error más bajos y los tamaños de muestra más pequeños tienen márgenes de error más altos.

Según Galdieri, los centros electorales más fiables son los neutrales, los que no tienen nada en juego en el resultado. Estos incluyen centros de votación universitarios y medios de comunicación acreditados que no tienen prejuicios hacia ningún candidato o tema.

Por otro lado, advirtió Galdieri, hay que tener en cuenta la fuente cuando se trata de encuestas realizadas por campañas o grupos de interés sobre determinados temas políticos.

"Deberíamos ser un poco más escépticos, simplemente porque esos grupos tienen un perro en la caza", explicó. "Van a seleccionar los mejores números posibles".

Estos artículos son compartidos por socios de The Granite State News Collaborative como parte de su serie Ya Es Tiempo. 

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

Political polling: What is its impact and how should the public interpret polls this election year?

With the presidential nominees of both major political parties essentially assured, the focus now is on the general election in November. And New Hampshire, although a small state, once again plays a major role.

By Rhianwen Watkins, Granite State News Collaborative

As a so-called “purple state” — New Hampshire’s congressional delegation is made up of all Democrats while Gov. Chris Sununu is governor and the and both houses of the legislature are controlled by Republicans — it’s also a “swing state,” one that could theoretically go either way when Granite Staters join the rest of the country in picking a president in November.

And that’s why local and national pollsters are still measuring the political temperament of New Hampshire, and with multiple sources around the nation conducting polls, it is important to understand how to interpret them, which sources to trust, and how they can have an impact on voters.

Chris Galdieri, a political science professor at Saint Anselm College — whose survey center regularly conducts polls — defines polling as a “measure of the opinions of a large group of people by surveying a smaller segment of that group of people.”

According to Geoffrey Skelley, senior elections analyst at FiveThirtyEight – an organization that aggregates, averages and then analyzes existing polls to look for trends – polling is beneficial because it helps voters understand the views of the people around them on specific issues and gauge how candidates they like or dislike are faring during an election year. Seeing, for example, which candidates are ahead or which ones end up dropping out of a race can sway the way people end up voting, he said.

Galdieri added that polls allow people to understand how others are voting outside of an electoral context. For example, just because one party wins state legislative elections it  doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody in the state holds the same positions that party has on all issues.

“Polls can tell you, ‘Okay, opinion is really divided on this issue … or they think this about this issue, but for whatever reason, didn't necessarily vote that way.”

How polling works

One common concern is how pollsters ensure that a sample group in a poll is representative of the population as a whole.

“That is the question that pollsters have been grappling with for the last 10 or 15 years,” said Galdieri. 

“By the late 20th, early 21st century, there was a pretty simple way to poll, which was to randomly dial phone numbers. And because basically everybody had a landline telephone, that was a pretty good and reliable way to get a pretty random sample of the population,” he said. “What makes life harder for pollsters these days is, first, that very few people have landline phones. And if they do, they don't answer them.”

Galdieri said smartphones are a barrier to polling because many automatically block unfamiliar numbers or people let them go to voicemail. 

John Lappie, professor of politics at Plymouth State University, said another difficulty with calling cellphones is that the area codes don’t always correlate to where the person actually lives.

“If you call a landline and it’s a 603 number, that number is in New Hampshire. If you call a 603 cell number, they might have moved to Florida 10 years ago.”

Lappie added, however, that relying only on answers from landlines can result in an inaccurate representation of the population. “It tends to mean that it’s privileged people in rural areas who only have landlines versus those in urban areas who may just have a cellphone. And it prevents younger people from answering.” 

Nowadays, the new go-to option is texting random numbers, emailing people randomly and creating online polls, Lappie said. However, he stressed that polling today is overall a bit less accurate than it was 20 years ago when everyone had a landline and was more open to answering polls.

Interpreting the polls

To Skelley, the most accurate way to interpret polls is to look at an average of many polls as opposed to any single poll alone. 

 “One poll could be an outlier, or one poll could tell you something that is not really an accurate gauge of the race because, at the end of the day, you're talking about a sampling error and other forms of errors go into any poll, whether it's done by a reputable pollster or not,” Skelley said.

This is the margin of error, Lappie explained. In addition to a margin of error, polls will also use confidence intervals which are another way to show the margin of error in the form of a percentage. The standard used is 95 percent.

Lappie gave a hypothetical example. 

“Let's say I pull 1,000 New Hampshire likely voters. In that sample of 1,000, 50 percent support Biden. Now, we can't say that just because 50 percent in the sample support Biden that means that 50 percent of all New Hampshire likely voters support Biden. We didn't ask everybody, we just asked this 1,000,” he said. So, if our margin of error is 3, and in our sample, we know 50 percent supported Biden, we are 95 percent sure that among all New Hampshire likely voters, between 47 and 53 percent support Biden.”

The size of the margin of error is determined by the sample size. Larger sample sizes have lower margins of error and smaller sample sizes have higher margins of error.

According to Galdieri, the most reliable polling centers are neutral ones that do not have stakes in the outcome. These include university polling centers and reputable news outlets that do not carry bias towards any candidates or issues. 

On the other hand, Galdieri warned, consider the source when it comes to polls put out by campaigns or interest groups for certain political issues. 

“You should be a little bit more skeptical, simply because those groups have a dog in the hunt,” he explained. “They're going to cherry-pick the best possible numbers.”

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

How can I find out who is donating to my candidates?

By Rhianwen Watkins-Granite State News Collaborative

You can learn a lot about your candidates from knowing who their donors are. 

Whether a given candidate is running at the local, state or national level, understanding what kinds of donors they have can give you an idea of who is supporting them financially. Knowing who your candidate’s donors are and how much money they are receiving can help you make a more informed decision on which candidate might align most closely with your beliefs or stands on issues. Furthermore, knowing how much their campaign is receiving in donations can sometimes be a factor in determining how likely their chances are of being elected.

If you want to know more about your candidates’ donations, there are some reliable databases for searching and tracking these.

Federal Elections Commission

The Federal Elections Commission’s search engine helps you find information about both donors and candidates running for federal offices – the presidency, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.. The  FEC requires that candidates report their financial information quarterly. Certain political organizations, like Political Action Committees, must report monthly.

Under the Campaign Finance Data tab, is a search engine titled “Individual contributions.” The top left search bar allows you to type in the name of  any candidate for president, Senate or House and will then display a list of their donors under the “contributor name” column. Other columns will show the state they are from, their employer, the date they donated and the amount. 

Alternatively, if you wish to search for information about donors directly, you may search for them using the search bar under “Contributor Details,” putting in any information you wish, including a name, a city, a ZIP Code, an occupation or a specific employer. This will bring up all the same information as searching for a candidate. However, when searching for donors, you may find that the list of recipients includes not just individual candidates, but also companies, political action committees, and other groups.

Occasionally, a candidate or donor will not have any data listed.

In addition to allowing you to search for individual donors, the FEC also can provide information on how much each candidate is raising compared to others and how much residents of each state are donating to their campaigns. 

Under the Campaign Finance Data tab, is a page called “Raising: by the numbers” which provides a comparative graph of how House, Senate and presidential candidates rank next to each other. An interactive map underneath shows which states are donating the most to the candidates in each category.

Opensecrets.org

Opensecrets.org is a fairly easy interface to search for donors of federal and state candidates, using the Donor Lookup search engine.

However, it requires you to search by donor only, rather than typing in a candidate's name to see which donors pop up. 

This means you may have to use trial and error if you are looking for a specific candidate’s donors. However, it is helpful for seeing which candidates come up if you are more curious about which candidates are being supported by a specific business, organization or notable person of interest.

It’s also a good way to see which candidates are supporting each other, by typing in a candidate’s name as a donor, to see which other candidates' names come up as recipients.

How do you know that Opensecrets.org is a reliable source?

Opensecrets.org prides itself on being a trustworthy database that has been used by journalists, activists, political professionals and voters for over 25 years.

According to their Frequently Asked Questions page, approximately half their staff are dedicated full time to updating information regarding candidates and their donors, so numbers are always current.

According to Opensecrets.org,  their primary source of data is the federal government. Any inaccuracies in data are the result of government agencies having not been thorough with their own data-keeping which Opensecrets.org relies on, the organization says..

New Hampshire Secretary of State

The New Hampshire secretary of state’s Campaign Finance System page allows you to search for financial information of candidates for governor, Executive Council, state Senate and House as well as candidates for county offices.

The page offers two search bars: one for “Candidate and Candidate Committees” and another for “Non-Candidate Committees and Political Advocacy Organizations Profiles.”

Alternatively, under each search box is an option to view suggested candidates and committees. This option will open up some further options to hone the search.

For example, under the “View Suggested Candidate” search option, you can choose 2024 candidates running for governor, Executive Council or N.H. Senate. 

If you click on the “2024 candidates running for governor” tab, you will see the names of all the candidates running for governor in a list, as well as the total amount of donations for each one. 

You can further hone your search for a specific candidate by clicking on an individual gubernatorial candidate’s name. This will display their top contributors and payee as well as what portion of their total donations came from businesses versus individual donors.

All state and county political candidates and committees are required, under RSA 664, to register with the Secretary of State’s office. So, if you are searching a candidate’s name or a committee using the Campaign Finance System page, you can be sure to find them when searching for their donors.

Start searching

Whichever platform you end up using, you should come away with a better idea of who your candidates’ donors are and their donation amounts. It is also helpful to search who the donors are if you are unfamiliar with them, to get a better idea of who the candidate’s voter and supporter base is.

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

How can I learn about the candidates?

By Cassandra Chabot–Granite State News Collaborative

New Hampshire residents should be mindful of two upcoming dates: Sept. 10 and Nov. 5. It’s no surprise if the second date grabs your attention immediately – it’s Election Day across the country, when voters elect a president and other candidates for federal office as well as state officials, like governors and legislators.  However, Sept. 10 is just as important, and arguably more so for the average citizen, according to John Lappie, an associate professor of political science department at Plymouth State University.

Why? Sept. 10 is the day New Hampshire holds party primary elections to determine the different parties’ candidates for state offices in the November election.

 “Who wins these races does have an effect on your day-to-day life. This isn’t just something that happens on TV,” said Lappie. 

With 400 House and 24 Senate seats to fill, five executive councilor seats, a new governor to pick as well as  candidates for various county offices, New Hampshire voters have a lot to think about. 

“One of the best ways to learn about these candidates is to go to local party meetings or local government meetings and ask around. Those people tend to be relatively plugged in,” Lappie said. Another possible way to learn about candidates is through political questionnaires, like the one run every election year by Citizens Count as well as the candidate information on sites like Ballotpedia. 

Liz Tentarelli, president of the League of Women Voters of New Hampshire, also suggested checking out a sample ballot, which can provide the names and parties of individuals running for office in the state.

Both Tentarelli and Lappie warned of the danger of  using social media as a primary source of information  and focusing on unreliable news coverage. “Most commonly, you’ll see a post on a website like Facebook with a link to a news article from a disreputable source. Studies have shown that people are less likely to assess the worth of a source if it's received through social media,” Lappie said..

Judging candidates strictly off the letter next to their name on the ballot is not enough to cast a proper judgment. “It doesn’t tell you who they are as a person. It doesn’t tell you whether or not they’d be effective at their job. That’s why it’s so important to actually dig in,” said Lappie.

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

How do I register to vote and how do I know if I'm registered?

By Kay Bailey, The Clock/Granite State News Collaborative

Since New Hampshire does not allow online or third-party voter registration, and all things registration- related need to be done in person, the way for first-time voters to ensure they can vote in the Granite State is pretty old fashioned. However, it's relatively easy to do if you know exactly where to go and what to bring with you.

New voters are required to register through a visit to their local town office six to 13  days before an election, allowing time for the supervisors of the checklist in your town to meet. This panel of elected community members is responsible for all oversight of voter registration in a town. (In cities, those responsibilities are the city clerk’s.) New voters, past voters and current voters alike all need to be accounted for and updated by the supervisors or clerk before the election arrives. If you’re planning to register before the election in a town, it's important to keep track of when this committee is set to meet. This information can be found on any town website, listed under the town clerk’s department.

All new voters registering at the town office will be processed through the town clerk, the one person who will be the key to ensuring you’re ready to vote come Election Day. For in-person registration, you need to have with you a valid id, proof of citizenship – most commonly a birth certificate –  and some sort of proof of residency. Acceptable proof of residency includes a driver’s license, rental agreements, utility bills in the voter's name or a document from a university serving as proof of attendance. 

New Hampshire also allows same-day voter registration, letting you register at the polls on Election Day, though this will add extra time to your visit. You’d also have to have on hand all of the same documentation required for pre-election registration.

For younger voters who may not have the necessary documentation at the ready, New Hampshire still has a way for all voters to participate come Election Day. By signing an affidavit – a legal agreement with the state –  that you are both 18 and a resident of the town you are voting in, you can register in person regardless of proof of residency or a birth certificate. 

However, it is still necessary to bring a valid ID to the polls if you plan to register there, even if you plan on signing an affidavit to supplement the required document to register to vote. 

Wondering if you’re already registered and don’t want to prepare yourself for the task of an in-person registration again? The Office of the Secretary of State has a quick avenue for finding your voter registration status. All you need is your name and date of birth, and you can ensure your information is up to date. Outside voter information resources, such as Vote.org. won’t work for voters in New Hampshire, so make sure to use the secretary of state’s  site for the most accurate information.

The bottom line is that, as long as you carry a valid ID on you at all times, you will still be able to vote in a New Hampshire election one way or another. All you need to do is show up.

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

How do I vote if I have a disability?

By Sarah Donovan-Granite State News Collaborative

The New Hampshire Constitution requires that all polling locations be accessible for all persons and for absentee voting to be obtainable for any person who wishes to vote but is unable to do so in person due to a disability.  

If you wish to vote in person and have a disability, according to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, each polling location must comply with the act and offer accessible options according to the New Hampshire secretary of state’s website.

Accessibility features of a polling location typically must include: a van accessible parking spot if a parking lot is present at the polling location;  a clear and steady path from the accessible parking spot to the building’s entrance;  a ramp or elevator, if there is a significant change in elevation from the parking area to the designated voting location;  a building that is  clearly marked with an accessible entrance, which must accommodate a wheelchair or be easily able to be accessed by a person with a disability;  no obstructions from the route of the accessible entry door to the clearly marked polling location;  a voting booth that is accessible with a table or shelf;  and tabletop voting screens that provide accessible audio and touchscreen settings that allow a voter to mark a ballot while sitting at a table must be present.

If assistance is needed in marking a voter’s ballot at the polling location, an election official or an individual of the voters choosing may mark their ballot for them, under oath of the moderator that the voter needs assistance in marking their ballot and has been alerted of accessible options of the polling location.

Transportation can be provided through NH RideShare, a free “ride-matching service.” Once you sign up, you can be eligible for carpool matches if available and possible transportation. Learn more about Rideshare here. NH Transit is also a transportation option, where all vehicles are made accessible. Click here to learn more. 

If I cannot vote in person, but want to vote, what should I do?

If you cannot vote in person due to a disability, you may vote with an absentee ballot, which allows you to  cast your vote and send it in through the mail or have it delivered by hand if you are unable to vote at a physical polling location.

Absentee ballot applications can be acquired from a town or city clerk’s office. 

If you have not registered to vote yet but plan to cast an absentee ballot, you can ask for absentee registration forms and instructions from your local town clerk prior to casting your vote.

If you are already registered, you must fill out an absentee ballot application and a corresponding “physically disabled” absentee voter registration affidavit to vote via absentee ballot. The application and affidavit are required to be written with a No. 2 pencil, and returned back to your local town clerk.

Deadlines for absentee ballots 

Absentee ballots that have been cast must be returned by mail or in person to your local town clerk by 5 p.m. by mail on Election Day, or in person by 5 p.m. the day prior to the election. 

If you need assistance based on a print disability, you can request an application for an Accessible Electronic Absentee Ballot. To learn more about casting an absentee ballot and accessibility options, visit the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s Absentee Ballot webpage. 

If you believe your voting rights are being infringed, speak to your local town moderator or contact the Attorney General’s Office at (866) - 868- 3703. To learn more about your civil voting rights, visit the U.S. Department of Justices’ Civil Rights Division website.


The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  collaborativenh.org.

How do I vote on Election Day?

Staff Report, Citizens Count

There are two ways to vote in New Hampshire: by mail using an absentee ballot or by voting in person on Election Day. 

Voting on Election Day might mean standing in line, but it’s also a wonderful way to participate in democracy on the federal, state and local levels. If you’ve never voted in person before, or it’s been a while, you might not be sure exactly where to go, what identification you need to bring, and so on. In this article, we’ll break down in simple terms everything you need to know to vote on Election Day.

 1 Mark your calendar

Before you can go vote on Election Day, you need to determine the date of Election Day! You can do that by visiting the elections page on our website. Every election cycle features primary elections and general elections. In a primary election, voters from each party vote on which candidates they’d like to see running in a general election. Then, in the general election, voters decide who will hold each office. Learn more about primary elections on the N.H. Secretary of State’s website.

 2 Determine if you are eligible to vote in New Hampshire

You can register to vote in New Hampshire if you are a U.S. citizen and spend the majority of the year living in New Hampshire, meaning that you are “domiciled” in the state — that is, you generally spend the majority of your time here. 

For college students who are from out of state but wish to vote in New Hampshire, they may do so as long as they do not plan on voting back home as well. College students can meet the majority of time spent living in New Hampshire voting requirement with a student ID of a New Hampshire college or a document to prove you live in campus housing. 

You must be at least 18 years old on the date of the next election to be eligible to vote. There is no minimum period of time you must live in the state in order to be eligible. 

New Hampshire considers voting a way of declaring residency. That means that, if you want to vote, you’ll also need to follow New Hampshire’s other residency laws. For example, if you own or drive a car in New Hampshire, you may need to get a New Hampshire driver’s license and/or register your vehicle in New Hampshire.

 3 Register to vote

Once you determine you are eligible to vote in New Hampshire, you’ll need to register to vote. There are a few ways of doing this, and we have a whole article explaining the exact steps here.

You can visit your local town or city clerk’s office and tell them you wish to register to vote. The deadline to register ahead of Election Day is between six and 13 days ahead of time, depending on what town you live in. You can find the name and contact information of your town or city clerk here.

If you aren’t able to register ahead of time, you can also register on Election Day when you show up to vote. Lastly, you may be able to register by mail if you meet certain criteria, such as if you are disabled or serving in the military. Learn more here.

Not sure if you are registered to vote already? You can find out here.

 4 Determine where your polling place is located

This part is easy: You can find your polling place and its hours of operation by filling out this online form. You can also ask your town clerk.

 5 Bring an approved form of ID

Voters need to show an approved form of ID, such as a driver’s license or passport. Many New Hampshire student IDs are also accepted. You can find a full list of approved IDs here.

You may be wondering, “What happens if I show up to vote but don’t have identification with me?” You’ll still be allowed to vote; you’ll just need to fill out a sworn affidavit stating that you are indeed eligible to vote and have your photo taken. At the polls, you can ask your election moderator for this.

If you fill out an affidavit to vote, you will receive a verification letter after the election that you must return within 30 days. If you do not return the letter, the Attorney General will investigate whether you voted fraudulently.

 6 Go vote!

Once you arrive, you’ll have the opportunity to register if you haven’t already.

You will show your ID to a local official, he or she will mark your name, and then you will get a ballot. You will walk to a private booth where you will fill out the ballot. The ballot will feature a detailed explanation of how to do this properly. 

You do not need to vote for someone in every race; even if you cast a vote for only one person, your ballot still counts. There is also a space to write in a name if you do not want to vote for any of the candidates. If you're not sure who to vote for, visit our elections page to find candidate profiles.

Once you’re done, you will turn in your ballot as you leave. Congratulations — you just participated in democracy!

 7 What if someone tries to stop me from voting?

If a poll worker tries to prevent you from voting, you can start by talking to your election moderator. The next step is to reach out to the N.H. Attorney General’s office through its hotline, 1-866-868-3703 (866-VOTER03). 

If you still believe you have been wrongly denied the opportunity to vote, you can file an election law complaint with the N.H. Department of Justice. Visit the New Hampshire DOJ website for more information or check the N.H. Secretary of State's website for details on how to file an election law complaint. 

Note that New Hampshire law forbids wearing political clothing at polling places. Hats, T-shirts, or other garments that advocate for or against any candidate, political party, or measure being voted on are prohibited. 

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

If I’m a student in New Hampshire who lives somewhere else can I still vote here?

By Jacob Downey, Granite State News Collaborative

When it’s time to vote in New Hampshire, college students over 18 years old have a choice. They can vote in their home state using an absentee ballot or they can vote in person in the city or town where they attend school.

To register to vote in New Hampshire, you must be able to prove identity, age, domicile and citizenship.

To provide proof of identification and age, you can provide a valid driver's license, a non-driver’s ID, a current U.S. passport or passport card, a military ID or a valid student ID with photo, if the date of birth is listed.

To provide proof of domicile, you can provide a valid driver's license or non-driver's ID or any of the following:  a valid student photo-ID; school document showing that the applicant lives in campus housing; a valid New Hampshire vehicle registration; a utility bill, bank statement or rental or lease agreement; a tax bill or medical bill; a pay stub or other monthly bill as well as postmarked mail dated within the last 30 days.

For proof of citizenship a U.S. birth certificate, passport or passport card should be provided, or naturalization papers if you are a naturalized citizen.

If the documents required are unavailable when you’re registering, you can sign an affidavit attesting to your identity, age, citizenship and domicile. If you do complete an affidavit when registering, you’ll be contacted later by the secretary of state’s office to verify the applicant’s information.

Remember: Under New Hampshire law, voting in New Hampshire is equivalent to declaring legal residency in the state. That means that students who opt to vote here become subject to other requirements for state residents, such as the obligation to register their car here and to get a New Hampshire driver’s license within 60 days of registering to vote if they drive in the state or own a vehicle.

Also, If you want to vote in New Hampshire but expect to be out of the state come Election Day, you may vote ahead of the election by obtaining an absentee ballot at your city or town clerk’s office requesting an absentee ballot by mail or online, in most cases. Disability, religious commitment, work obligation — including care for children or infirm adults — or simply being out of town on Election Day all qualify for getting an absentee ballot. For more information on obtaining an absentee ballot, click here.

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

Preparing to vote in New Hampshire

By: Mike Dunbar, Citizens Count

Whether you’re heading to the polls for the first time or you’re a seasoned New Hampshire voter, now is a great time to start getting prepared for the voting booth. From getting to know the candidates to locating your polling place, the process can feel overwhelming. In this explainer article, we’ll review some of the basics of voting in the Granite State and offer tips to make things easier.

Get to know who’s running   

Reviewing the candidates and where they stand on important issues is a great first step. You can find out who will be on your ballot by looking at a sample ballot on the Secretary of State’s website  or checking out the Elections page on the Citizens Count website. 

Make sure you’re eligible and registered to vote

You can register to vote in New Hampshire if you are a U.S. citizen, spend the majority of the year living in New Hampshire, and will be at least 18 years old on the date of the next election. You can also vote in a New Hampshire election if you go to college here, so long as you don’t plan on voting back home as well. There is no minimum period of time you must live in the state in order to be eligible. 

You can visit your local clerk’s office and tell them you wish to register to vote. The deadline to register ahead of Election Day is between 6-13 days ahead of time, depending on what town you live in. You can find the name and contact information of your town and city clerk on the Secretary of State’s website. You’ll want to bring certain documents when you register to vote. Voters have to prove their identity, age, citizenship, and where they live in order to vote:

  • A driver’s license or non-driver ID from any state is proof of identity and age.

  • A birth certificate, U.S. Passport/Passcard, or naturalization document is proof of citizenship.

Note: A driver’s license, even a Real ID compliant one, is NOT considered proof of U.S. Citizenship.

As for proving that New Hampshire is your primary home, there are many acceptable documents, including:

  • a driver’s license that has your address on it

  • A document from the school that you attend showing that you live in campus housing

  • a rental agreement

If you can’t register ahead of time, you can also register on Election Day when you show up to vote. However, keep in mind that New Hampshire’s new provisional ballot law has officially taken effect. This means that first-time voters who don’t show proper identification and proof of residency at the polls will have to sign a sworn affidavit and have their photo taken. These voters will then be given an “Affidavit Voter Package” containing a special provisional ballot and details on how to submit identity documents to the Secretary of State.  If a voter doesn’t provide the missing identification documents within seven days, their ballot will be thrown out and their vote removed from the totals. 

Lastly, you may be able to register by mail if you meet certain criteria, like if you are disabled or serving in the military.

Not sure if you are registered to vote or not? Use the NH Secretary of State’s Voter Information Lookup tool to see your current status. 

Locate your polling place and bring an approved form of ID

You can find your polling place and its hours of operation by filling out an online form. You can also ask your town clerk or check your local newspaper. 

All voters need to show an approved form of ID, like a driver’s license or passport. Many New Hampshire student IDs are also accepted. You can find a full list of approved IDs on the Secretary of State’s website 

If you forget your ID, you’ll still be allowed to vote, you’ll just need to fill out a sworn affidavit stating that you are indeed eligible to vote and have your photo taken. You can ask your election moderator for this. If you fill out an affidavit to vote, you will receive a verification letter after the election that you must return within 30 days. If you do not return the letter, the Attorney General will investigate whether you voted fraudulently. 

If you want to vote in New Hampshire but can’t make it to the polls on Election Day (for certain reasons), you can request an absentee ballot from your town clerk. Once you’ve filled out your absentee ballot, you can mail it in or submit it in person to your clerk. Learn more about voting using absentee ballot here 

What if someone tries to prevent me from voting?

If a poll worker tries to prevent you from voting, you can start by talking to your election moderator. The next step is to reach out to the New Hampshire Attorney General through their hotline, 1-866-868-3703 (866-VOTER03). If you still believe you have been wrongly denied the opportunity to vote, you can file an election law complaint with the New Hampshire Department of Justice. Visit the New Hampshire DOJ’s website for more information (https://www.doj.nh.gov/election-law/file-complaint.htm) or check the NH Secretary of State's website for details on how to file an election law complaint (https://www.sos.nh.gov/elections/election-integrity).     

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

Shirts, stickers and selfies: a guide to rules at the polling place

By James Kelly, The Clock/Granite State News Collaborative

Voters with new Rambo MAGA flags or “Midwest Princess” Harris-Walz camo hats may be excited to showcase their gear on Election Day, but they should be careful: Displaying much political merchandise is restricted at the polls. 

Rules around clothing at the polls fall under a broader set of electioneering laws in New Hampshire. According to those laws, clothing that is easily removed and explicitly advocates for a candidate, party, or ballot measure is prohibited at the polls. 

“There is a general prohibition against wearing campaign-related clothing in a polling place,” New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanan told the Granite State News Collaborative. “And that is defined further in the statute by meaning promoting or opposing a candidate in the election in which voters are participating.” Donald Trump branded-clothing would therefore be prohibited, Scanlan said, but Mitt Romney merch would be perfectly fine.

New Hampshire’s political clothing ban has been in place since 2016, but has since been changed. In its original form, the law banned all political merch. In 2020, the law was amended to allow merchandise that is not easily removed. Hats, stickers, and pins are still banned because they are easily removed. Shirts and pants, however, have more leeway.

“If a voter is wearing an article of clothing that is not easily removed, or if removed would expose too much,” Scanlan said, “then the moderator is instructed by the statute to let that person vote wearing those articles of clothing.” Still, the voter in that situation must move expeditiously through the polling place and may not linger to talk to other voters, he said.

Electioneering laws exist to curb the sort of voter intimidation that was prominent before reform in the 1890s, when the switch was made to an official secret ballot. Before then, voting was an entirely public affair, and  that ushered in rules on electioneering. Before regulation, electioneers would pressure voters into voting a certain way. “Liquor was probably the most common item that was distributed to get a person to vote a certain way,” Scanlan said. “But there was also pressure. There was vote- buying.” 

Voting reforms aimed to create a voting process without those kinds of pressures – New Hampshire law now bans giving alcohol to voters “with a view to influencing any election” –  but other forms of electioneering are allowed within designated electioneering zones. 

Moderators are instructed to create both a “preferred electioneering area” and “no-electioneering corridors.” The preferred electioneering area is a space near the entrance to a polling place where electioneers are encouraged to gather. No-electioneering corridors are spaces at least 10 feet wide that allow access to the polls from parking lots and sidewalks that serve the polling place. Electioneering is technically allowed anywhere outside the no-electioneering corridors

A 2014 state law also banned sharing images of your completed ballot – or “ballot selfies” –, but that law was ruled unconstitutional in 2016 by the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals. The court ruled  that ballot selfies are a kind of political speech protected by the First Amendment, but proponents of the ban argued that they are a means for voter intimidation.

“The court opened up an opportunity for intimidation and pressure and possibly vote-buying,” Scanlan said of the First Circuit’s decision, suggesting that people could use those photographs as a way to force others to vote a certain way. “You could easily envision a college fraternity or sorority saying, ‘This is the person that we would like to see get elected into office. Let’s all go cast our votes and then we’ll post our ballot selfies when we’re done,’” he said. “At that point, there is political pressure … to vote a certain way.”

Still, opponents of the ban see restrictions as a sort of overreaching solution in search of a problem

 “The ban’s rationale strikes me as paternalistic and anti-democratic,” former ACLU president Nadine Strossen told Granite State News Collaborative.

The First Circuit shared her view. “New Hampshire may not impose such a broad restriction on speech banning ballot selfies in order to combat an unsubstantiated and hypothetical danger,” it held.

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

State representatives and US representatives: What do they do and what’s the difference?

By Mya Blanchard, Nashua Ink Link

The purpose of the House of Representatives is to represent citizens. United States reps represent districts within each state, while state reps represent districts within the state. 

To understand the difference, and what the House does, it’s important to know that all state governments are modeled after the federal government, with three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. The federal executive branch is headed by the governor, while the state executive branches are headed by the governor. 

The legislative branch consists of the House and Senate, which work together to pass laws. This is true for both the US legislative branch (also called Congress) and the state legislative branch, as they each have similar roles and follow similar processes. 

US Representatives

The entire US House of Representatives is elected every two years, with 435 members divided among 50 states in proportion to the total population. New Hampshire has two state reps. Currently they are Ann Kuster and Christopher Pappas. 

US reps have the power to impeach federal officials and elect the president in the case of a tie in the electoral college, as well as other responsibilities. 

Congress (both the House and Senate) also has the power to declare war.

State Representatives

New Hampshire reps (also called the NH General Court) has 400 members across 204 voting districts across 10 counties. There is roughly one state rep for every 3,300 people in New Hampshire, which makes NH legislature the second largest governing body in the US, behind Congress. 

Click here to find your US representative and State representative.

How a bill becomes law

Passing laws is one of the main responsibilities of the legislative branch, and the process is similar at the federal and state level in New Hampshire.

Congress

After Congress introduces a bill, it is referred to a committee for review (different committees oversee specialized policy areas).

The bill is then sent to a subcommittee where it is accepted, amended or rejected. 

The bill is then referred to the full committee where the process is repeated, before going to the floor of the House of Representatives and Senate.

A conference committee – consisting of members of both chambers – meets to bring the bills from the House and Senate into one concise bill. 

New Hampshire

For a bill to be presented to the legislature in New Hampshire, it must have a sponsor from someone in the legislative body to be submitted as a Legislative Service Request. 

The bill is then given to the clerk of the Senate or the House, depending on which body sponsors the bill (all money bills – bills involving new means to raise money – originate in the House. This is true for state government as well as the federal government.)

Then the bill goes to a committee where there will be a public hearing, followed by committee deliberation and decision conducted during an executive session. A report is then submitted to the clerk of the House or Senate.

The bill then goes to the floor of the body in which it originated, then is sent to the other body, before going to a committee to be enrolled and sent back for amendment if need be. Once the bill is signed by the Speaker of the House or President of the Senate, it is forwarded to the Secretary of State who transmits it to the Governor. 

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

The Executive Council: a pipeline to bigger political careers

By James Kelly, The Clock/Granite State News Collaborative

Three former executive councilors are vying for higher office in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary in New Hampshire. 1st District Congressman Chris Pappas, who sat on the Executive Council for six years before his current job, is running for reelection. Colin Van Ostern, who sat on the Executive Council for four years, is running to replace Annie Kuster in the 2nd Congressional District. And Cinde Warmington, who is finishing her fourth year representing the 2nd District on the Executive Council, is running for the party’s gubernatorial nomination to replace Gov. Chris Sununu, who himself served for six years on the Executive Council.

That is all to say, the Executive Council creates, or at least can propel to prominence, many of New Hampshire’s movers and shakers. 

When King Charles II of England created the Executive Council (then the “President’s Council”) in 1679, it served in a similar capacity to the modern state Senate. The council was  an upper-house counterpart to the House of Representatives and served as advisors to the governor, according to a paper, “A Brief History of the Governor’s Council,” on file at the NH State Library. Members appointed to the council were men of prominence, handpicked by the king.

After the colonies won their independence from England, New Hampshire retained that council, and while executive councilors have not carried the same royal endorsement that they did 350 years ago, a number of them have since been elected to the U.S. Senate, U.S. House and governor’s office.

Among them was Charles Miller Floyd. Born to “pinching poverty” in Derry in 1861, Floyd built a substantial business and political career, including election to the Executive Council. As a boy, Floyd worked as a farmhand and in a shoe factory, according to an article in a 1902 edition of  The Granite Monthly magazine. After clerking for a hardware store, Floyd found success in 1893 with his purchase of the Manchester One Price Clothing Company. Floyd was elected to the state Senate in 1899, and the Executive Council in 1905, according to the NH Division of Historical Resources. He was elected governor in 1907.

Another shoemaker, Francis Parnell Murphy, was born in Winchester, in 1877. His father was an Irish immigrant, Civil War veteran and tannery worker. Murphy took up the family trade and found a job nailing together packing cases for shoes, and, after migrating between shoe factories in New Hampshire, eventually founded the J.F. McElwain Company, a shoe manufacturer. Murphy was elected as a state representative. in 1931, and then to the Executive Council in 1933. He was elected governor in 1937. Still in the midst of the Great Depression, Murphy initiated public works projects like the Hampton Beach Bathhouse and the Cannon Mountain Tramway. He also established the State Police. While serving his second term as governor, Murphy founded a radio station. Adopting the first three letters of his name as the station’s call sign, Murphy’s WMUR aired for the first time on Oct. 2, 1940. In 1953, Murphy won the rights to Manchester’s television Channel 9, and WMUR-TV debuted on March 28, 1954. 

A Minnesota native, Charles Milby Dale was stationed at Fort Constitution in Portsmouth with the U.S. Army Artillery Coast Corps during World War I. After the war, Dale practiced law in Portsmouth, at one point representing Mary and Josephine Prescott and contesting the will of their brother, Charles W. Prescott. Dale won the case, and the Prescott sisters used the money – somewhere in the range of $2.5 million – to buy land on the Portsmouth waterfront. The project was completed in 1939, and Prescott Park was opened. Dale was then elected Portsmouth city solicitor, then mayor,  state senator and then Senate president. In 1937, Dale was elected to the Executive Council, and in 1944, he defeated incumbent Gov. Robert Blood in the Republican primary and won the general election. 

Young New Hampshire voters may recognize Judd Gregg – or at least his name – from their college campuses. Plymouth State University hosts the Judd Gregg Meteorology Institute. UNH runs the Judd Gregg Marine Research Complex. And at St. Anselm College, Gregg was instrumental in establishing the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. Before he was a name on a building, however, Gregg was an executive councilor. Born in Nashua to a politically prominent family – when he was 5, Gregg’s father, Hugh Gregg, was elected governor of New Hampshire  Judd Gregg studied at Phillips Exeter Academy, then Columbia University and  earned a law degree at Boston University in 1972. In 1978, Gregg was elected to the Executive Council. He won a seat in the U.S. House in 1980, and the governor’s office in 1988. Gregg was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992 and served three terms.

So remember: When you vote for an executive councilor, you also might be paving the way for  a future congressman, U.S. senator or governor.

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.

U.S. vs state senators and House members: What do they do and what is the difference?

By Mya Blanchard, Nashua Ink Link

The purpose of the Senate, both state and federal, is to represent citizens. There are 100 U.S. senators, two from each state. There are 24 New Hampshire state senators, each elected from a specific district within the state. 

Three branches of government

All state governments are modeled after the federal government, with three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. The federal executive branch is headed by the president; state executive branches are headed by the governor. 

The legislative branch consists of the House and Senate, which work together to pass laws. This is true for both the U.S. legislative branch (also called Congress) and the state legislative branch, as each have similar roles and follow similar processes. 


U.S. Senate

There are 100 U.S. senators, two from each state. Population does not enter the equation, unlike House members, whose numbers are based on population. New Hampshire’s current U.S. senators are Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, both Democrats. U.S. senators serve six-year terms; those terms are staggered so that about one-third of the Senate is up for reelection every two years. 


U.S. House of Representatives

The House has 435 members; the number representing each state is determined by population. New Hampshire has two members of the U.S. House, Christopher Pappas and Ann McLane Kuster, both Democrats. U.S. House members serve two-year terms.

What Congress does

The U.S. Senate and the U.S. House each consider major legislation, and approval by both chambers is required for passage. The Senate also has the power to try impeachment cases for federal officials referred to it by the House, consent to ratification of treaties, as well as other responsibilities. Senate confirmation is required for many senior leadership positions in the federal government, including federal judges. 

All federal revenue bills originate in the House, which also has the authority to impeach federal officials, and elect the president in the case of an Electoral College tie.

State senators

New Hampshire has 24 senators, roughly one senator for every 55,000 citizens. State senators serve two-year terms, and are elected by the voters of their district. There are no term limits. They are paid a salary of $200 for the whole two-year term, plus a reimbursement for mileage for traveling to and from sessions and committee meetings in Concord. 

Click here to find your U.S. senator and state senator.

State House members

The House has 400 members across 204 voting districts — one state representative for roughly every 3,300 people in the Granite State. The New Hampshire Legislature is the second-largest governing body in the United States. Only Congress is bigger.

Representatives serve two-year terms, and are elected by the voters of their district. There are no term limits. They are paid a salary of $200 for the whole two-year term, plus a reimbursement for mileage for traveling to and from sessions and committee meetings in Concord. 

How a bill becomes law

Passing laws is one of the main responsibilities of the legislative branch, and the process is similar at the federal and state level in New Hampshire.

After a House member or senator introduces a bill, it is referred to a committee for review (different committees oversee specialized policy areas). The bill is then sent to a subcommittee where it can be accepted, amended or rejected. The bill is then referred to the full committee, where the process is repeated, before going to the floor of the House of Representatives and Senate.

If the House and Senate pass different versions of the same bill, a conference committee — consisting of members of both chambers — works to bring the House and Senate bills into one concise proposal. 

In New Hampshire, for a bill to be presented to the Legislature, it must have a sponsor — an elected member of either the House or Senate. The sponsor files a Legislative Service Request to work on the correct wording, and the bill is then given to the clerk of the Senate or the House, depending on which body sponsors the bill. However, all bills to raise money originate in the House, in both state and federal governments.

Then the bill goes to a committee where there will be a public hearing, followed by committee deliberation and a recommendation on whether it ought to pass. The bill then goes to the floor of the body in which it originated. If it passes, it is then sent to the other body for consideration. 

If there are dueling versions of the bill from the House and Senate, a conference committee may be formed to iron out differences, and the compromise bill is sent back to both House and Senate, seeking approval. Approved bills are signed by either the U.S. president or the New Hampshire governor, unless they’re vetoed — rejected. Legislators may challenge the veto, and seek new votes in both chambers, with a supermajority required to override the veto.

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide  project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at  www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.