The 2022 midterm elections are today. Here is a look at the candidates and constitutional amendments on Hanover ballots. Candidate platforms can be found through this pamphlet provided by Dartmouth Votes, a non-partisan voter awareness coalition.
Gubernatorial and Congressional Races
Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican who is seeking a fourth term in office, is facing off against Democratic state senator Tom Sherman in the New Hampshire gubernatorial election. The candidates have sparred over abortion, energy and education policies during the campaign. Two Libertarian candidates, Kelly Halldorson and Karlyn Borysenko, will also appear on the ballot.
In recent weeks, New Hampshire’s Senate race has become one of the most hotly contested in the nation — its outcome could determine control over the evenly-divided chamber. Democratic incumbent Maggie Hassan is running for a second term against retired Gen. Don Bolduc, a Republican. The Libertarian candidate Jeremy Kauffman is, along with Halldorson and Borysenko, one of the only three members of his party to qualify on the ballot.
Hassan and Bolduc have diverged on questions over abortion and the validity of the results of the 2020 election. Bolduc has shifted his position back and forth on the legitimacy of the election at least three times since August, reports indicate.
Town voters will also elect their representative in Congress. Hanover, which is located in New Hampshire’s second congressional district, is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Ann McLane Kuster ’78. A five-term incumbent, Kuster is facing off against Republican Robert Burns, a small business owner. The two have split over inflation and abortion in their recent debates.
If Kuster loses her bid for reelection, it will be the first time since 1995 in which the second district — and by extension, the College — is not represented by a Dartmouth alumnus in Congress.
Executive Councilor, State Senator, State Representative Races
In local races, executive councilor Cinde Warmington, the lone Democrat on New Hampshire’s state executive council, faces Republican state senator Harold French in her reelection bid. The five-member council has authority over the annual state budget and judicial appointments made by the governor.
Voters will also be able to elect Hanover’s representation in both chambers of the state legislature, where Republicans currently hold the majority. Hanover, which is located in the state Senate’s fifth district, is currently represented by Democrat Suzanne Prentiss. Physician John McIntyre, a Republican, is challenging Prentiss in her bid for a second two-year term.
In Grafton 12 — Hanover’s district in the state House of Representatives — voters will be able to select up to four candidates from those listed on the ballot. The four incumbents, Mary Hakken-Phillips, College government professor Russell Muirhead, Sharon Nordgren and James Murphy, who are all Democrats, are running unopposed.
County Races
In Grafton County, where Hanover is located, voters will be able to choose candidates for six county-wide offices. In the county Sheriff election, which oversees local law enforcement in the area, Democratic incumbent Jeffery Stiegler is seeking a third term against retired police captain Steve Tatham, a Republican.
The county treasurer race will pit three-term Democratic incumbent Karen Liot Hill against Republican Brian Dear. The treasurer’s office is “primarily responsible for investing taxpayer dollars, securing favorable interest rates when borrowing is necessary, and exercising oversight of fiscal matters,” according to the Upper Valley Democrats’ website.
In the race for the Grafton County register of deeds, five-term incumbent Kelley Jean Monahan, a Democrat, is running for reelection against Republican John Randlett, a local business treasurer and controller. The office, according to documents from the Property Records Industry Association, oversees “proper and legal procedure for recording property ownership.”
County attorney Martha Ann Hornick and county commissioner Wendy Piper, who are both Democrats, are running unopposed in their respective reelection campaigns.
Finally, in the election for the county register of probate, two former state representatives, Democrat Chuck Townsend and Republican Paul Ingbretson, are running for the post. In 2011, the New Hampshire state government transferred the register of probate’s responsibilities to a court employee.
The position itself is the subject of a constitutional question also on the ballot, which asks voters whether they want to eliminate the register of probate.
Constitutional Amendment Questions
New Hampshire voters will be presented with two state constitutional amendments this year. The first asks whether voters want to eliminate the register of probate role entirely. Earlier this year, bipartisan majorities in the state House and Senate voted to eliminate the position.
The position “has no office, no phone, no desk, no computer, and no real duties, but does have a stipend of $100 a year,” wrote former speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives Donna Sytek in The Eagle-Tribune.
Voting “yes” would eliminate the position, while voting “no” would preserve it.
The other amendment on the ballot asks whether voters want to convene a state constitutional convention. The question is asked every ten years as mandated by Article 100 of the state constitution, and it was last approved in 1982.
