New Hampshire

Placeholder

Highest-power issue: Regulatory misdemeanors with no mental state. Current recommendation: Toss-up.

1. Regulatory misdemeanors with no mental state · power 100
2. Emergency orders that jail peaceful operators · power 80
3. Long-term location tracking without a warrant · power 80
4. Felony charging of peaceable firearm possession · power 60

Legislature

Placeholder

The legislature drafts the statute, sets the penalty and the mental state, funds the agencies, and can sunset an emergency power. On most of these issues it holds the text.

Regulatory misdemeanors with no mental state

Placeholder. A long list of business and licensing rules can be charged as misdemeanors with no requirement that the person knew the rule or meant to break it.

Harm: 4
Reach: 5
Office impact: 5
Power: 100

Conduct 4 and penalty severity 3 (Misdemeanor, up to a year) blend 60/40 into harm 4. Power 100 = 4 × 5 × 5.

Who can act

The legislature can enact a default mental-state rule: unless a statute says otherwise, a crime requires knowledge. A governor cannot insert that word. A court might read one in and should not be counted on to do it against clear text. Office impact for the legislature is 5.

Winnability is Adele Voss's chance in this office, 2 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Adele Voss is fictional.

Forfeiture of property without a conviction

Placeholder. Cash, cars, and small accounts are taken on the claim they were involved in a crime. The owner need not be convicted. Proceeds can support the agency that seized them.

Harm: 4
Reach: 3
Office impact: 5
Power: 60

Conduct 5 and penalty severity 2 (License, property, or forfeiture) blend 60/40 into harm 4. Power 60 = 4 × 3 × 5.

Who can act

Only the legislature can require a conviction and redirect the proceeds. The governor can veto a reform or sign it. The attorney general can slow the docket. Judges decide individual innocent-owner claims under whatever statute exists. A single legislative seat is not a majority, which is the reason the editorial call below refuses to outrun the formula.

Winnability is Adele Voss's chance in this office, 2 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Adele Voss is fictional.

2026 legislative elections

Toss-up

Placeholder. Legislative 'candidates' here are slates, not a single seat that becomes a majority. That limit is why the editors diverge from the formula.

Formula: Endorse Adele Voss (The lead clears the toss-up gap.)

Editors and the formula disagree. The published call is the editorial one. The reason is below.

Each segment is issue power times alignment. Alignment runs from −1 to +1. Right of zero, the candidate would narrow the penalty. Left of zero, they would keep or expand it. Fictional candidates.

Fictional candidate

Adele Voss

Limited-government placeholder · Winnability 2 · Score 112

Fictional placeholder. Not a real person. A reform slate with an outside chance of picking up seats, not of taking the chamber.

Fictional candidate

Calvin Brice

Enforcement-first placeholder · Winnability 4 · Score -34.5

Fictional placeholder. Not a real person. Favored slate. Would keep forfeiture and leave strict-liability misdemeanors in place.

The formula endorses Adele Voss. Editors are marking a toss-up anyway. A legislative slate is not a candidate a voter can install as a majority. Voss's winnability is a 2: a voter can change a seat and still not change the forfeiture statute or the mental-state rule. Naming her would pretend a precision this ballot does not have. The companion move is the one in the essay on economic and plaintiff work — fund the forfeiture case and the mens rea brief directly. Voss and Brice are fictional.

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Governor

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The governor signs or vetoes statutes, issues and withdraws executive orders, appoints agency heads, and proposes the budget. The office does not write a criminal penalty on its own.

Emergency orders that jail peaceful operators

Placeholder scenario. A declared emergency makes it a misdemeanor to keep a nonviolent business open or to hold a peaceful meeting. No violent act is an element.

Harm: 4
Reach: 4
Office impact: 5
Power: 80

Conduct 4 and penalty severity 3 (Misdemeanor, up to a year) blend 60/40 into harm 4. Power 80 = 4 × 4 × 5.

Who can act

The governor writes and can withdraw the order. The legislature can sunset the authorizing statute, but during the emergency the pen is in the governor's hand. Courts can enjoin an order that exceeds the statute; they are not the first instrument. County sheriffs decide how enthusiastically to cite people, which is enforcement, not repeal.

Winnability is Mara Ellison's chance in this office, 4 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Mara Ellison is fictional.

Boards that license harmless trades

Placeholder. Occupations with no plausible public-safety content — hair braiding, interior advice, simple repair — require a board license. Working without one is a fine and a shutdown.

Harm: 3
Reach: 4
Office impact: 3
Power: 36

Conduct 3 and penalty severity 2 (License, property, or forfeiture) blend 60/40 into harm 3. Power 36 = 3 × 4 × 3.

Who can act

The governor appoints the boards and can veto a bill that adds a category. The legislature writes the category. The attorney general is usually counsel to the board, not its author. Impact for the governor is real and short of the text itself, which is why this office scores a 3 rather than a 5.

Winnability is Mara Ellison's chance in this office, 4 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Mara Ellison is fictional.

2026 gubernatorial election

Endorse Mara Ellison

Placeholder slate. Two fictional candidates, scored only on the emergency-order and licensing issues. Nothing here is a statement about a real governor.

Formula: Endorse Mara Ellison (The lead clears the toss-up gap.)

Each segment is issue power times alignment. Alignment runs from −1 to +1. Right of zero, the candidate would narrow the penalty. Left of zero, they would keep or expand it. Fictional candidates.

Fictional candidate

Mara Ellison

Limited-government placeholder · Winnability 4 · Score 133.4

Fictional placeholder. Not a real person. Would withdraw the emergency order and veto new license categories.

Fictional candidate

Jonah Peck

Enforcement-first placeholder · Winnability 3 · Score -58

Fictional placeholder. Not a real person. Would keep the emergency tool and the licensing boards as they are.

Ellison is the clearer vote on both issues this office actually touches. She would end the emergency order and stop the growth of licenses for harmless work. Peck would keep both. Her winnability is a 4, the score gap is wide, and the formula and the editors agree. She is a fictional placeholder. The call illustrates a clear endorsement, not a real election.

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Judiciary

Placeholder

Judges rule on warrants, constitutional limits, and how a penalty is applied. They do not rewrite a clear statute, and this scorecard does not ask them to.

Long-term location tracking without a warrant

Placeholder. Police retain weeks of location data without a warrant and offer it in prosecutions of nonviolent offenses. The downstream penalty is often a felony, which is why severity is scored as imprisonment rather than as a fine.

Harm: 4
Reach: 4
Office impact: 5
Power: 80

Conduct 4 and penalty severity 4 (Felony imprisonment) blend 60/40 into harm 4. Power 80 = 4 × 4 × 5.

Who can act

Trial and appellate judges decide whether the file required a warrant and whether it is admissible. The legislature can codify a warrant rule. The attorney general chooses the state's brief. The governor does not decide the suppression motion. This is a high-impact judicial issue.

Winnability is Naomi Feld's chance in this office, 3 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Naomi Feld is fictional.

2026 judicial elections

Toss-up

Placeholder judicial slates. Records on the warrant question are thin and similar.

Formula: Toss-up — The lead sits inside the toss-up gap. Leading score: Naomi Feld. (The lead sits inside the toss-up gap.)

Each segment is issue power times alignment. Alignment runs from −1 to +1. Right of zero, the candidate would narrow the penalty. Left of zero, they would keep or expand it. Fictional candidates.

Fictional candidate

Naomi Feld

Cautious-reform placeholder · Winnability 3 · Score 40

Fictional placeholder. Not a real person. A mild record in favor of a warrant for long-term location data.

Fictional candidate

Hector Quill

Incumbent-leaning placeholder · Winnability 3 · Score 40

Fictional placeholder. Not a real person. The same mild record, from the other slate.

Feld and Quill have the same winnability and the same one-step record on warrants. The scores tie. A named endorsement would be the editors choosing a personality. They will not. The issue remains serious — the judicial office is the one that can move it — and the honest call is that this ballot does not tell a voter which slate will. Both are fictional.

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Attorney general

Placeholder

The attorney general decides appeals, civil enforcement, and often whether the state will defend a statute. Charging power over ordinary crimes may sit with county attorneys. The entry says so when that split matters.

Felony charging of peaceable firearm possession

Placeholder scenario, not a description of current New Hampshire law. A non-prohibited adult faces a felony for possession that involves no violence and no victim.

Harm: 5
Reach: 3
Office impact: 4
Power: 60

Conduct 5 and penalty severity 4 (Felony imprisonment) blend 60/40 into harm 5. Power 60 = 5 × 3 × 4.

Who can act

In this model the attorney general sets appeal policy and a statewide position. Many cases are still filed by county attorneys, so the office does not score a 5. The legislature writes the felony. The governor's pardon arrives after the conviction. Judges apply the elements.

Winnability is Ruth Okonkwo's chance in this office, 3 of 5. It is a property of the leading score, not of the statute. Ruth Okonkwo is fictional.

2026 attorney general election

Endorse Ruth Okonkwo

Placeholder. Scored on charging and appeal posture for a nonviolent possession felony.

Formula: Endorse Ruth Okonkwo (The lead clears the toss-up gap.)

Each segment is issue power times alignment. Alignment runs from −1 to +1. Right of zero, the candidate would narrow the penalty. Left of zero, they would keep or expand it. Fictional candidates.

Fictional candidate

Ruth Okonkwo

Limited-government placeholder · Winnability 3 · Score 60

Fictional placeholder. Not a real person. Would stop defending felony charges that have no violent element and no victim.

Fictional candidate

Silas Brenner

Enforcement-first placeholder · Winnability 4 · Score -69

Fictional placeholder. Not a real person. Would keep felony appeals in nonviolent possession cases.

Okonkwo would take the state's name off felony appeals that punish peaceable possession. Brenner would add to them. The office does not write the statute — county attorneys still file — but appeal posture is real power, and the gap is not close. Winnability is a 3, which clears the floor. Both names are fictional placeholders.

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