Redistricting will change Keene House seats
As published on page one of the August 16, 2011 edition of The Keene Sentinel, and online.
Starting in the 2012 election, individual Keene voters will be choosing fewer members of the N.H. House -- a change that some representatives say may challenge Democratic control of the city's seven-member delegation.
The total number of Keene representatives is not expected to change. But, under a constitutional amendment passed by New Hampshire voters in 2006, five of the seven seats will be decided by voters in each of the city's five wards, instead of voters city-wide casting ballots for all seven seats.
The change will make the election more "small-d democratic," according to state Rep. Charles F. Weed, D-Keene, a professor of political science at Keene State College who lives in Ward 2.
Candidates will be able to focus their campaigning on a single ward, rather than having to win votes across the city, he said.
"From neighborhoods I think it's possible for people to work hard and go around and knock on doors and unseat one of the Democratic candidates," Weed said.
Rep. Gladys Johnsen, D-Keene, also noted that possibility.
"I could see that if you are in a ward that is primarily Republican they might have a Republican candidate that could win," she said.
All seven of Keene's representatives are now Democrats.
The 2006 amendment states that any town or ward with a large enough population to support its own representative must have one -- and that representative must not be shared with any other town or ward, according to Assistant Secretary of State David M. Scanlan.
This is the first time the House districts will be redrawn since the amendment was passed, so the amendment is coming into effect now.
Under the proposed ward lines to be voted on by the City Council, Keene's wards are very close to the same size, with an average population of 4,682 voters, while the target size for a House district is 3,291 -- meaning the wards more than qualify for individual representation.
The difference will be made up with so-called "floterial" districts, Scanlan said. These districts are composed of towns or wards of more than 3,291 voters -- so they qualify for additional representation -- but not enough for two dedicated seats. Floterials are also known as "at-large" districts.
How Keene's remaining two seats are apportioned to at-large districts is up to a House committee that is working to redraw the lines of House districts across the state, to account for both new census data and the new law.
The committee may decide to make all five of Keene's wards into a two-representative at-large district, Scanlan said, but he did not rule out other possible configurations, which could involve neighboring districts that also have "extra" voters.
Other towns across the region will be affected by the change as well.
Walpole, currently part of a larger district including several neighboring towns, now qualifies for its own representative, Rep. Lucy M. Weber, D-Walpole -- a member of the redistricting committee -- pointed out.
The same will be true of any town with a voting population over the target 3,291. Towns below the target 3,291, meanwhile, must be combined into districts made up only of other small towns.
All of which means the House committee has a complicated job to do before voters find out how many representatives they will be voting for come November 2012.
tagged with: N.H. House, politics, redistricting
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