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Before the Court is a Petition for Declaratory Judgment which challenges as unconstitutional the provisions of RSA 656:5 which mandate that "the names of the candidates of the party which received the largest number of votes at the last preceding state general election shall be listed first" and that within each party the candidates be listed alphabetically. The petitioners allege that RSA 656:5 violates Part I, Article 11 of the New Hampshire Constitution, which guarantees that all citizens having proper qualifications shall have an equal right to be elected into office; and Part I, Articles 1,2,10,12 and 14, which guarantee equal protection under the law. The petitioners request that the Court define an "impartial" method for creating ballots in place of RSA 656:5 and declare any provision contrary to that "impartial" method unconstitutional.

We have been asked to give our opinion on two questions: first, whether enactment of SB 436 would “violate Part I, Article 11 of the Constitution of New Hampshire,” and second, whether enactment of SB 436 would “violate Part I, Article 28-a, of the Constitution of New Hampshire.” We answer the first question in the affirmative and the second question in the negative. Although those submitting memoranda address the issue, we have not been asked and therefore do not opine upon whether SB 436 infringes upon the associational rights of political parties guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

By order of November 26, 2007, after a merits hearing, this Court found unconstitutional the Party Access to Voter information Act, Section 46 of RSA 654, That Act amended RSA 654, Voters and Checklists, effective July l8, 2007, to authorize the Secretary of State to provide a political party, for a fee, with the name, address, gender, birth year, voter history, and party affiliation of every registered voter in the state. The definition of "party” effectively limited access to such voter information to the two major political parties — The Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, a so—called "minor party,” instituted this litigation and was ultimately successful in obtaining a declaratory ruling that the statute is unconstitutional.