For one day only, Samantha Faucher of Manchester becomes DJ Sam Jam. She arrived around 8 a.m. Tuesday at the polls in Ward 7, on the city’s west side, to hold signs for the Republican Party and play a mix of upbeat classics, including “Piano Man” and “Bennie and the Jets.”
“It's a fun day – it's Election Day,” she said. “I haven't seen an election so energized like today, so I might as well match the vibe.”
The energy in Manchester was matched at polls statewide. Despite some isolated incidents, Secretary of State David Scanlan said Election Day ran smoothly in New Hampshire. He said several polls had to close a little later to accommodate the last voters standing in line.
“Passions are really high on both sides and the voters want to exercise that right to get out and cast their vote,” Scanlan told WMUR. “And, you know, they're just doing it in droves this time. It's really quite remarkable.”
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Overall, state officials said they received 300 calls and emails on Election Day hotlines during polling hours on Tuesday. There were scattered reports of disruptions across the state, but nothing systemic. In Gorham and Rochester’s Ward 5, the Attorney General’s office reported road closures caused delays for some voters heading to the polls. Although local law enforcement rerouted traffic, Rochester will be seeking court approval to count ballots received after the close of polls in Ward 5.
The Attorney General’s office also received a report someone assaulted an election worker at the Somersworth Ward 3 Location, which is at the high school, and that Somersworth police officers were dispatched to the location. The office is still investigating the incident.
The above-average turnout meant it took longer for voters to check in and cast their ballots, especially in cities like Manchester and Nashua. Particularly, same-day registration lines took a while as voters waited to fill out their registrations.
In Nashua’s Ward 7, moderator Avalon Lewis said the high turnout was expected. He said they figured out a system to get voters in and out in under 15 minutes.
“We all did expect this to be really busy,” Lewis said. “Same thing here for the first time voters – it's been busy.”
In Manchester, Ward 7 had some issues with its aging voting machine where both the memory card and the backup memory card failed. Moderator Bill Cote said a backup machine was ordered from the Secretary of State. After the ballots were fed back into the machine, the rest of the day went without a hiccup. Otherwise, he said technology was actually helping speed up the process.
“Check in time is incredibly fast now with the tablets,” Cote said. “It’s just a real nice aid to the voting process because people come in, they check in, boom. They go over, they get a ballot, they vote.”
Processing challenges
As voters turned out to cast ballots in local and national races, some also gathered to observe – and in at least one case, challenge – the voting process. In New Hampshire, vote counting is a public process, with checks and balances built in along the way.
In Durham, 11 voters petitioned election officials to wait to process absentee ballots until after the polls closed at 8 p.m., according to the Attorney General’s office.
Under New Hampshire election law, any 10 registered voters at a single polling place can get together and sign a petition to request the delay. Initially, state officials indicated that a similar petition had been successfully filed in Londonderry, but local and state officials later confirmed that was not the case.
Normally, local election officials can start checking absentee ballots off the voter checklist around 1 p.m.
At time of publication, none of the petitioners responded to NHPR’s requests for comment, other than to say they were interested in election integrity. One resident of East Wakefield who said she was working with those involved in the petition told Seacoastonline that the group was trying to raise awareness about New Hampshire’s voter identification rules.
But speaking to NHPR Tuesday night, New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Chris Ager said he saw no grounds for a challenge.
“All it does is delay the counting and delay the results for the people,” he said. “And why would you want to do that?”
Sophia Hall, who was helping to coordinate voter protection efforts with Lawyers for Civil Rights in New Hampshire, was also concerned about the challenges.
“It's unusual to see a number of challenges at one particular polling location,” she said. “And here the fact that we saw repeated reports that Durham is certainly concerning.”
Elsewhere, Maureen O’Brien was also watching out for any issues in Concord’s Ward 10 on behalf of the Republican Party.
“We have lawyers on standby that we can call,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “We have people from [the Republican] Party a phone call or an email away if we see any irregularities or have any questions.”
But she said she hasn’t seen any issues, either Tuesday or in past elections.
“We had a few things like machines jamming, things like that,” she said. “But I personally haven't seen anything super concerning.”
In the past she’s called the Republican Party’s on-call lawyers to confirm that the chain of custody for ballot boxes was correct, and she thinks asking questions helps people feel more comfortable with the voting process.
“We have heard questions about irregularities over the years,” she said. “I just feel like to be an active citizen – to really want the voting process to be free, fair and trustworthy – I think it's important to be part of that process.”
Seeing old friends
Election Day was also marked by moments of cooperation and camaraderie across New Hampshire.
“The best part of an election like this is that everyone gets to see their old friends,” said Alvin Nix Jr., Belmont’s Town Moderator.
In Pittsfield, a team of poll workers and medical personnel worked together to make sure a woman who was injured on her way into vote could still cast her ballot – even after she was bandaged and placed on a gurney.
Moderator Jackson Marston says election officials and emergency responders gathered around her gurney, with their backs to her, so she could fill out her ballot in privacy. Then, they carried her to the ballot machine, so she could feed her ballot into it directly.
“Her first concern was, she wanted to make sure that she was able to cast her ballot,” Marston said.
Others were eager to cast their ballot in their first election.
“Voting matters,” said 18-year-old Miles Solsky, at Concord’s Ward 10 polling place. “Some people think it doesn't, but I feel like my voice should be heard at least a little bit.”
Farther north, a group of students were getting involved in the election in a different way: by helping to replace their town’s aging ballot box.
For the past few decades, Groveton voters have used what Randy Potter calls the “ugliest ballot box in America.” Potter, a longtime town employee, said he made a plea to teacher Ben Blodgett with the same closing message each year: “You have a wood shop. Can’t you do something about this?”
This year, Blodgett and six students did. They presented Potter with a new wooden ballot box late last month. It has an American flag on the side and says “We the People” across the top. The sides are reinforced with steel Blodgett saved from when the school’s bleachers were replaced. A metal tag dedicates the box to the town’s residents, “especially Randy Potter.”
