Despite law, officials say voters, media, competing parties, responsible for vetting candidates

NASHUA – Despite a state law that prevents convicted felons from running for or holding office, state officials have no procedure for screening candidates prior to an election. And even though asking people if they have been convicted of a felony is commonplace on many job applications, no such question exists on election paperwork that candidates must fill out to get their names on a ballot. “The law is there, the law exists and it says what it says, but there is no background check that is done by state government of people that have decided to run for office,” Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said on Wednesday. Such background checks fall to voters and the media, officials say, or the competing interests of political parties. However, the state’s criminal records are not stored electronically and cannot be easily searched. If a candidate was convicted of a felony in one county and runs for office in another, those records are not easily obtained by private individuals. That’s the case for Stacie Laughton, a Ward 4 selectman who won a District 31 race for state representative on Nov.