Order of Candidates on the Ballot
New Hampshire RSA 656:5-a defines the order in which candidates’ names will appear on the ballots. For the sake of consistency with the ballot, the Beacon’s On the Ballot section follows the same scheme.
The essence of the RSA 656:5-a scheme is that as an election draws near, the Secretary of State’s office picks a random number for each possible number of candidates in a race. The candidate whose position in a specific race’s alphabetical list of candidates matches the random number chosen for races with that number of candidates becomes the candidate who is listed first on the ballot. The ballot for that race continues from that point in the alphabetical list, wrapping back to the beginning of the list to include all the candidates.
In other words, if candidates A, B, and C are running against each other and the Secretary of State randomly selects the number 2 for races with three candidates, then the candidates will appear on the ballot in this order: B, C, A.
Here’s a quick guide to all of the Beacon’s coverage of the 2013 local elections.
Voting in New Hampshire
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Election Ballots for Tuesday, March 11, 2014
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Candidate Profiles
for Board of Selectmen (vote for 1)
for Budget Committee (vote for 2)
- Wendy Pinkham
- Bill Bardsley
for Road Agent (vote for 1)
for Town Moderator (vote for 1)
for Trustee of Trust Funds (vote for 1)
for Town Treasurer (vote for 1)
- Shirley Currier
for Library Trustee (vote for 1)
for Cemetery Trustee (vote for 1)
- <no candidates on the ballot>
for Supervisor of the Checklist (vote for 1)
- Douglas Phelps
- Robinette A. Boynton
for School Board (vote for 1)
- Kent Armstrong
for School Moderator (vote for 1)
- Elizabeth Paine
for School Clerk (vote for 1)
- <no candidates on the ballot>
for School Treasurer (vote for 1)
- Shirley Currier