This page answers common questions about Cornerstone’s election endorsements in New Hampshire—how we choose candidates to support, why we focus on state-level races, and what to do if your preferred candidate wasn’t endorsed.
The simplest way to know in advance what races you will be voting on is to download a sample ballot which will list all candidates running for office.
If you haven’t already, you can download your sample ballot here.
Look up your senate and representative district (and ward if you have one) by searching your polling location: https://app.sos.nh.gov/pollingplacesampleballot
Alternatively, you can visit your city or town’s CITY or TOWN CLERK page, search for an Elections/Voter Information area, and look for a SAMPLE BALLOT.
No. Because of our charter (we are registered as a state-level organization), Cornerstone cannot make endorsements at the federal level. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t help with some resources and information we think will be useful.
A good general resource for races and candidates, including links to their campaign and social media pages, is www.ballotpedia.org. Detailed election and candidate information on ivoterguide.com, which is a conservative, values-based nonprofit organization for Judeo-Christian voters.
Cornerstone often chooses to commit its resources down the ballot. We believe the most critical races at the state level are to be found in the Executive Council, State Senate and State House. For this reason, we often only endorse these positions.
Cornerstone Action sets a high bar for endorsements. Not every candidate can clear it. We consider several factors, including voting records and responses to Cornerstone’s candidate survey, before we issue endorsements.
If your candidate isn’t listed on our endorsements, there are a number of ways to gather information on where they stand on the issues.
Search social media and the web for information on candidates; look for any virtual or in-person meet-and-greets, or reach out to the candidates on your own, as there is no substitute for getting to know a candidate personally and asking them questions yourself such as:
Does a candidate support the right to life? How about any exceptions? Does a candidate support forcing you as a taxpayer to fund abortion, abortion providers, or gender reassignment? Does a candidate support New Hampshire children by offering parents true educational choice? Does the candidate welcome civic engagement from people of faith?
Of course, Cornerstone would love to hear from you after a candidate responds to your questions!
We do not have a traditional voter guide with every candidate for executive council, state senate, and state representative listed along with where they stand on our issues. Gathering this amount of information is a monumental challenge in our state. New Hampshire has a 424-member citizen legislature, larger than any other state plus the 5 executive council seats. Cornerstone sends out candidate surveys, but many candidates choose not to answer and not all candidates have a voting record as many have never held elective office before. This would make a traditional voter guide incomplete so instead, we choose to directly endorse and work for those candidates who most reflect our values.
For incumbent state representatives and senators, you can consult Cornerstone’s legislative scorecard from the most recent legislative session or even review past scorecards for candidates who have served in the past.