The Special Committee on Redistricting has set the dates for the first 3 "public listening sessions."   Strafford County's meeting will be:

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 at 6pm at the Strafford County Courthouse, 259 County Farm Rd. #6, Dover, NH 03820

We intend on turning out folks in force and sending a long and loud message that with the short notice for meetings, the lack of a schedule, and the refusal to use Zoom for interactive citizen input, the process is NOT open & transparent. 

In Strafford County, two towns eligible for their own NH House Districts in 2011 didn't get them, Milton & Strafford.  Residents of these towns should come out in force and complain to the Special Committee.  In towns, state reps were shared with other towns when the reps should have been focused on only the needs of that town.

The town of Stafford also has the distinction of being connected by a single point in the woods to New Durham-technically contiguous, but not really.  The towns share a rep but have little in common.

Prepare Testimony & Recruit Attendees for Your County Hearing -- With hearings in the next few weeks, we're asking you to prepare testimony to give at your county's hearing, and get others prepared to participate. One of the helpful members of the committee has suggested that our testimony should be as specific as possible:

• How my town didn't get it's own House district.  Why not?   Isn't that a violation of the NH Constitution?
• My town is districted with another town with which we have nothing in common
• Our high school is a multi-town connection, yet we're not in a district together. 
• What's with the crazy connection with our town and a town on the other side of the mountain?
• I'm in a floterial with multiple towns we have nothing in common with.   And doesn't that rep have more power than a rep just representing one or two towns? 

Here are some additional talking points from the Fair Maps Coalition:   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Oxc28keB8Wco62WbRYDn6YT2FsI_J1PD/view

There will be options for inside & outside participation, and there will be something for everyone to do, whether they are in-county or out, and to fit your level of COVID concern. Once you  RSVP, you will be automatically directed to a volunteer sign-up page with several options to help.

THANKS for helping!  Together we'll get pressure on the Special Committee on Redistricting for a fair, nonpartisan & transparent mapping process!