William Marvel: 'Ballot' Bill

As of two weeks ago, Bill Gardner no longer oversees New Hampshire elections. His legacy as New Hampshire’s secretary of state is a record of strict fairness, stemming from the fundamental recognition that the outcome of any one election is less important to the health of a democracy than the purity of the process in every election.

Because of our common interest in American history and New Hampshire history, we’ve known each other nearly half a lifetime. As an avid proponent of our first-in-the-nation primary, Bill was intrigued to learn that the Granite State’s annual March elections had served as the nation’s political bellwether at least as long ago as the Civil War, before our primary even existed. His devotion to the primary was no manifestation of state pride, either, but emanated from a justifiable belief that our state was small enough to allow lesser-known candidates an opportunity to be heard in a more accessible but widely monitored forum.