CONCORD — Laying out a detailed platform to protect and strengthen free and fair New Hampshire elections, support local city and town officials, and modernize state government, former state Executive Councilor and 2016 nominee for Governor, Colin Van Ostern today announced his plans to run for Secretary of State of New Hampshire this fall.
“We need to protect and strengthen New Hampshire’s free and fair elections so that our government always reflects the will of the people — not those trying to rig the system for their own interests,” said Van Ostern.
“To modernize state government, to promote fair, secure elections in cooperation with local city and town officials, to stand up for the voting rights of all eligible voters, and to protect New Hampshire’s First In The Nation presidential primary, I plan to ask incoming lawmakers to consider me as a candidate for Secretary of State of New Hampshire next fall.”
The next Secretary of State will be chosen in late fall by a combined vote of the 424 New Hampshire state representatives and state senators who will be elected in the upcoming November, 2018 elections. Van Ostern promised to campaign vigorously to elect legislators who support enacting this nonpartisan platform.
Van Ostern invited all New Hampshire voters to join him in signing a citizens’ petition in support of his “Free and Fair New Hampshire” platform, available at www.FreeandFairNH.com. The platform includes:
Modernizing and Securing State Elections and Business Oversight
Modernizing secure support for local elections officials — including proactive cooperation with cities and towns; electronic voter checklists; and secure automatic voter registration to decrease lines — while maintaining 100 percent paper ballots and holding regular random audits of votes to confirm accurate machine counts.
Streamlining online business creation and improving service for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Securing accurate state voter checklists and restricting unsecured, out-of-state storage.
Standing up for Voting Rights
Resisting political efforts to complicate voter registration or add unnecessary red tape in front of college students, members of the military, and other citizens’ constitutional right to vote.
Defending New Hampshire’s election integrity and fighting back against false “voter fraud” political attacks and inaccurate statements from elected leaders, no matter the source.
Cleaning Up Our Elections
Supporting creation of a bipartisan, independent redistricting commission the favors neither political party.
Working to ban all corporate & business donations to NH political campaigns.
Passing a new executive branch ethics law prohibiting appointed state agency heads and staff from using their taxpayer-funded offices for political campaign activity.
Protecting New Hampshire’s First In The Nation Primary
Ensuring ironclad adherence to administering the nation’s first presidential primary election.
Van Ostern was supported at his announcement by New Hampshire House Minority Leader Steve Shurtleff, Senate Minority Leader Jeff Woodburn, and drew support from John Broderick, former UNH Law School Dean and founder of the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership, and Public Policy.
“It’s time for a new Secretary of State who will bring transparency and accountability to the office, and I’m proud to support a proven leader like Colin Van Ostern for this important role,” said New Hampshire House Minority Leader Steve Shurtleff.
“I honor Secretary Gardner for his long service to our state,” said Senate Minority Leader Jeff Woodburn. “Today in 2018, many powerful interests are working in overdrive trying to rig the system for themselves, and Colin will be a Secretary of State who will work proactively to fight back against false political attacks on the integrity of our elections, make sure the system works for regular people, and will always protect our First In The Nation primary.”
“It is exciting that a serious, energetic leader like Colin is ready to serve our state in this important office, and that he is advancing a platform of modernization and cooperation across both administrative and political lines,” said former UNH Law School Dean and founder of the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership, and Public Policy, John Broderick.
Colin Van Ostern, 39, served two terms on New Hampshire’s state Executive Council from 2013-2017, elected to represent 49 towns and cities in District 2 spanning from Keene to Rochester.
On the Executive Council, he led efforts to adopt paperless review and Council approval of state contracts, bringing Council agendas and state contracts online for the first time ever in the same form that Councilors reviewed them. He also successfully led efforts to bring deeper scrutiny to the most expensive and complicated contracts by streamlining review of small and routine contracts, saving state tax dollars.
In 2016, Van Ostern was the Democratic party’s nominee for Governor of New Hampshire, losing in one of the narrowest races in state history. Van Ostern currently works as Vice President of Workforce Solutions at Southern New Hampshire University. He received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and his BA from The George Washington University, and lives in Concord with his wife and two sons.
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