New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) vetoed bipartisan legislation that would have created an independent commission to draw the state's legislative, congressional and Executive Council district maps following the 2020 elections.

In his veto, Sununu asserted that issues related to partisan gerrymandering were "extremely rare" in New Hampshire and that an independent commission would run counter to the ideas stated in the state's constitution.

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"The members of the commission proposed by House Bill 706 would be unelected and unaccountable to the voters," he said in a letter announcing his veto on Friday. "Legislators should not abrogate their responsibility to the voters and delegate authority to an unelected and unaccountable commission selected by the political party bosses."

If passed, the bill would have created a commission, consisting of five Democrats, five Republicans and five unaffiliated citizens, to draw the state's voting maps. Lawmakers would be removed from the process of drawing the maps, but would be allowed to vote to approve them, The New Hampshire Union Leader reported.

The newspaper noted that the 15-member commission would have come from a pool of applicants submitted to the secretary of state. The rules would have forbid any individual who was an elected official or lobbyist in the past 10 years to be a part of the body.

The state's House and Senate passed the legislation earlier this year, but some Republicans had become outspoken opponents of the legislation.

State Rep. Marjorie Smith (D), who worked with the nonpartisan Brennan Center to create the proposal, denounced Sununu's veto, saying that the GOP governor should be "ashamed" of himself.