HB 1125 New Hampshire House · 2026 Regular Session

enabling school districts to adopt partisan school district elections.

HB 1125 allows New Hampshire school districts to choose whether to hold partisan elections for school board seats, meaning candidates would run under political party labels (like "Democratic" or "Republican"). Currently, most school elections are non-partisan; this bill gives districts the option to adopt a partisan system through a vote at a school meeting. If adopted, the system would require candidates to be nominated by political parties, combine votes across towns in cooperative districts, and elect winners by plurality (simple majority of votes cast). The bill directly affects school districts deciding to switch election systems, with the change taking effect after the next election following the adoption vote.
Bill status failed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Dec 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2026
House Passage
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Dec 1, 2025 Last action Apr 10, 2026
Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
10
Key actions
3
Committee
4
Apr 6, 2026
Committee
Committee Report: Inexpedient to Legislate, 04/16/2026, Vote 4-0, CC; SC 14
upper
Mar 17, 2026
Introduced
Introduced 03/12/2026 and Referred to Election Law and Municipal Affairs; SJ 7
upper
Mar 11, 2026
Lower · Passed
Ought to Pass: MA DV 168-156 03/11/2026 HJ 7 P. 144
lower
Mar 4, 2026
Lower · Passed
Minority Committee Report: Inexpedient to Legislate
lower
Mar 4, 2026
Lower · Passed
Majority Committee Report: Ought to Pass 02/17/2026 (Vote 8-7; RC) HC 10 P. 41
lower
Dec 1, 2025
Introduced
Introduced 01/07/2026 and referred to Election Law HJ 1 P. 7
lower
1 primary · 7 co-sponsors

Sponsors