Strafford County Commissioners chairman: If HB 270 passes it'll end up in court

From left, Deanna Rollo , Robert J. Watson and chairman George Maglaras (Courtesy photos)

The chairman of the Strafford County Commissioners guarantees they will go to court if a bill that would change the way they are elected gets by the governor's desk.
House Bill 270, which is now in a House subcommittee, would change the elective process for the county's three commissioners from at-large voting to three separate districts, each of which would choose its own candidate.
"This is nothing more than gerrymandering," Strafford County Commission Chairman George Maglaras said on Saturday. "You could have these districts gerrymandered every two years depending on what party wins. I can tell you all three of us are against this bill."
The other two commissioners are Robert J. Watson of Rochester and Deanna Rollo of Durham. Maglaras, of Dover, said if it gets by the governor's desk they'll take it all the way to the state's Supreme Court.
He said the only appropriate time to bring a proposal like this forward would be after a census, which won't be till 2030.
He said a redistricting committee formed after the 2020 census never even mentioned such a proposal, and blamed the current proposal on Republican disfavor of his proposed $140 million dollar county nursing home to replace the aging Riverside Rest Home on the county farm.
House Bill 270 is sponsored by Len Turcotte, R-Strafford District 4, who is chair of the House Municipal and County Government Committee. The bill would create three voting districts within Strafford County.
District 1: Farmington, Middleton, Milton, New Durham, Rochester wards 1, 5, 6 and Somersworth wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
District 2: Dover wards 1, 2, 3, 4, Durham, Lee, and Rollinsford
District 3: Barrington, Dover wards 5 and 6; Madbury and Rochester wards 2, 3, 4 and Strafford.
Most of New Hampshire's counties elect their commissioners by segregated districts like in Turcotte's proposal. Sullivan and Carroll counties elect theirs by at-large voting, but require them to live in three separate districts.
An oped by state rep Cliff Newton that was published Saturday in The Rochester Voice brought to light that Strafford's County Commissioners, who are all Democrats, benefit from an enormous advantage from Democrat strongholds in the cities of Dover and Somersworth and town of Durham. The three communities show that Democrat votes outpace Republican votes by more than 8,000. Conversely, the difference in the rest of the county was around 60 or less in each town.
Turcotte and other co-sponsors of the bill were not immediately available for comment.