Local Elections = Big Impact: What’s Happening in 2025
“Wait, I’m supposed to vote in 2025?! It’s not a presidential election year! It’s not an even year! I don’t see any commercials on TV! What’s going on here?!”
You’re right! All those things are true. You know what else is true? Voting happens every year! And you get the chance to be an active, informed voter more often than every 2 or 4 years. How great is that?!
It may not be a presidential election year, and you may not be seeing commercials, but local elections are just as important. The municipal leaders you elect make a difference in some of the most basic parts of your everyday life.
Because municipal officials are closer to constituents, their decisions are more directly felt. Decisions about road maintenance, snow plowing, street lighting, or zoning for new housing will affect our everyday lives. Local government offers more direct access to elected officials and more opportunity for people to know and influence who is making decisions.
Local property taxes, school budgets, municipal services—all of these are decided locally. How you vote in municipal elections can influence how much you pay, and what level of services you get.
Municipal elections often have much lower voter turnout than national ones. That means a small number of votes can swing outcomes. So participation (or lack thereof) has a bigger effect. To put it simply: YOUR VOTE MATTERS!
This fall, 12 of New Hampshire’s 13 cities will hold municipal elections for important local positions like mayor, aldermen, city councilors, school board, local election officials and more. Your vote determines who leads in your city. Why only 12 cities? The City of Lebanon holds their municipal elections in the Spring, per their city charter.
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Franklin
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Berlin
Claremont
Concord
Dover
Keene
Laconia
Manchester
Nashua
Portsmouth
Rochester
Somersworth
Municipal elections are often overlooked, but are some of the most important as they allow votes to influence their local leadership and priorities. This is your chance to influence who might represent you and your neighbors! Make a plan to vote at forwardnh.org/vote or reach out to angela@forwardnh.org to ask questions and get connected to your city clerk.
If your town is not listed here (and isn’t Lebanon), that means you have a town meeting, and town meeting days will begin in March 2026. More on that later!
