Title LXIII, Elections

To hold the office of state senator, a person must be qualified as provided in Part 2, Article 29 of the state constitution: the person must be of the age of 30 years, and shall have been an inhabitant of this state for 7 years immediately preceding the election, and at the time …

To hold the office of state representative, a person must be at least 18 years of age and must be qualified as provided in Part 2, Article 14 of the state constitution: for 2 years, at least, next preceding the election shall have been an inhabitant of this state; and shall be, a…

The nomination of candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives or for the executive council or for the state senate or for representative to the general court for special elections shall be accomplished through the holding of special election primaries. The filing of candidat…

In the event that no party has more than one candidate file and no nonparty or other candidate files a declaration of intent, the primary election shall not be conducted. In such a case, the special election shall be held on the day previously fixed as the day for the holding of …

To hold the office of county commissioner, sheriff, county attorney, county treasurer, register of deeds, or register of probate, a person shall be, at the time of his or her election, an inhabitant who resides actually and permanently in the county from which he or she is chosen…

Ballots for use in all state elections shall be prepared and delivered by the secretary of state at the expense of the state.

For purposes of facilitating the examination and recounting of votes cast, all elections shall be conducted using paper ballots in accordance with this title.

At the end of the list of candidates for each office, there shall be left as many blank lines as there are offices to be filled which a voter may use to write in the name of any person for whom the voter desires to vote. In cities and towns where an electronic ballot counting dev…

Except as provided in RSA 656:14, whenever a question is submitted to voters at a state general election as provided in RSA 663, the question shall be printed on the state general election ballot following the offices columns. Printed after the question there shall be 2 squares, …

The question of whether to approve a proposed constitutional amendment may be submitted to the vote of the people at a state general election but may be on a special and separate ballot as provided in RSA 663:2.

The state general election ballot shall be printed on plain white paper in weight not less than that of ordinary printing paper. A constitutional question submitted on a separate ballot shall be printed on colored paper, or on plain white paper with a printed, colored header.

There shall be no impression or mark to distinguish one general election ballot from another. The names of all candidates shall be printed in uniform type, and the ballots for each town and city shall be such that their width and length when folded shall be uniform.

On each state general election ballot shall be printed the words "Official ballot for" followed by the name of the town for which the ballot is prepared, the date of the state general election and a facsimile of the signature of the secretary of state.

The secretary of state shall cause to be printed for each town 10 sample ballots. Such ballots shall be printed on tinted paper without facsimile endorsement but shall otherwise be identical to the state general election ballot. The sample ballots shall be forwarded as soon as pr…

At each state general election, the secretary of state shall furnish each town or city the state general election ballots in a number which the secretary of state shall deem sufficient for voting in the state general election.

No person engaged in preparing or printing a state election ballot shall purloin, give away, or allow to be removed any such ballot. Whoever knowingly violates this provision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor if a natural person or shall be guilty of a felony if any other person.

I. The secretary of state shall send the state general election ballots in a sealed package to the town and city clerks so they shall receive them no later than Tuesday immediately preceding the day of the state general election. The package shall be marked on the outside to clea…

In the event that a candidate dies or is disqualified as provided in RSA 655:38 or 655:39, the name of the substitute candidate shall be printed on the state general election ballot. If the state general election ballots have already been prepared and time will permit, the secret…

The official state primary election ballots shall be prepared by the secretary of state and shall be delivered by the secretary of state to town and city clerks so that the ballots shall be received not later than the Tuesday immediately preceding the state primary election. Each…

The state primary election ballot shall be as nearly as practicable in the same form as the state general election ballot.

With the exception of the office of state representative, whenever there are 2 or more candidates for nomination to the same office, the names of such candidates shall be alternated on the state primary election ballots used so that each name shall appear thereon as nearly as may…

The state primary election ballots of all parties shall be printed upon colored paper or on plain white paper with a printed, colored header, but no ballots of any political party shall be printed upon paper or printed with a printed, colored header, of the same or a closely simi…

The secretary of state shall furnish to each town or ward clerk the state primary election ballots of each political party in a number which the secretary of state shall deem sufficient for voting in the state primary.

For the first state primary election at which a political party has candidates for nomination, the secretary of state shall print for said party a sufficient number of state primary election ballots which in the secretary of state's discretion shall most closely approximate the f…

The secretary of state shall furnish 10 sample state primary election ballots of each political party printed on tinted paper to each town or ward clerk and, upon request, a reasonable number of such sample ballots to each person whose name appears upon the ballot as a candidate.…

The official presidential primary election ballot for each political party shall be sent by the secretary of state so as to be received by the city and town clerks no later than the Tuesday immediately preceding the presidential primary. Each town and city clerk, in the presence …

At least 6 days before any state general election is to be held, the official state general election ballot shall be sent by the secretary of state to the city and town clerks.

The presidential primary election ballot shall be as nearly as practicable in the same form as the state primary election ballot.

On the presidential primary election ballot of each political party, there shall be one column for the office of president. The column shall be headed "Candidate of the (insert name of party) Party for President of the United States." Underneath this heading there shall appear th…

The provisions of RSA 656:24-656:28 relating to state primary election ballots shall apply to presidential primary ballots.

Prior to any state election, the secretary of state shall prepare, in such quantity as the secretary of state may deem necessary, absence, religious observance, and disability absentee ballots in the same form as nearly as practicable as the official ballot to be used at said ele…

Prior to any federal election, the secretary of state shall prepare, in such quantity as the secretary of state may deem necessary, federal offices only absentee ballots in paper and electronic form, similar in form to the official ballot to be used at said election. Said ballots…

Absent uniformed services voters and voters temporarily residing outside the United States shall be provided with the absentee ballot prepared under RSA 656:33, provided that the secretary of state shall prepare an electronic version of such ballot for use by any absent uniformed…

Whenever a question to voters is printed on an official state election ballot, the secretary of state shall ensure that said question is also on all applicable absentee ballots.

Whenever a question to voters related to a proposed constitutional amendment is placed on a separate ballot as provided in RSA 663:3, the question shall also be placed on a separate absentee ballot to be included with each absentee ballot other than federal offices only absentee …

The secretary of state shall forward absentee ballots to the town and city clerks as provided in RSA 657:10.

The secretary of state shall prepare special state election ballots for voters of unincorporated places as provided in RSA 668.

Every state general election ballot shall contain the name of each candidate who has been nominated in accordance with the election laws, except as hereinafter provided, and shall contain no other name except party appellations. The names and addresses of the presidential elector…

The mayor and aldermen of any city or the selectmen of any town, subject to the approval of the ballot law commission, may authorize the use of one of the electronic ballot counting devices approved by the ballot law commission and the number of those devices used for the countin…

The ballot law commission shall act as a board to examine devices for the electronic counting of ballots. The commission shall, whenever requested, examine any device which may be capable of meeting the requirements for elections held in this state and shall, at least every 5 yea…

I. The ballot law commission shall make such rules as may be necessary to ensure the accuracy of electronic ballot counting devices, including rules for the testing of electronic ballot counting devices prior to each election and the submission of testing records to the secretary…

Any town or city authorizing the use of an electronic ballot counting device for the counting of ballots shall pay the cost of lease or purchase. When such a device is purchased by a town or city, the person from whom such device is purchased shall give to the secretary of state …

I. The names of all candidates nominated in accordance with the election laws shall be arranged upon the state general election ballot in successive party columns. Each separate column shall contain the names of the candidates of one party; except that, if only a part of a full l…

I. Whenever there are 2 or more candidates for the same office whose names will appear together within the same column or list on a ballot, the position of such names shall be determined according to this section. II. Immediately following the close of the period during which a p…