By BILL CHAISSON
[email protected]
Tomorrow is Election Day, a federal holiday during which almost nobody gets time off from work. In New Hampshire polls open at various times between 6 and 11 a.m., depending on your town or city of residence, and they all close at 7 p.m. In Vermont polls open at various times between 5 and 10 a.m., and they all close at 7 p.m.
Polling places
How do you know where to go? We have included a list of polling places (and hours of open polls) for each town in our coverage area. In the cities of Claremont and Lebanon there are three wards, so need to know which ward you live in in order to go to the right polling place. Both New Hampshire and Vermont have on line resources that allow you to type in your residential address to find the address of your polling place. In both states this is handled by the office of the Secretary of State. In the New Hampshire the search engine is at app.sos.nh.gov/Public/PollingPlaceSearch.aspx, and in Vermont the site provides a list at www.sec.state.vt.us/elections.aspx.
Federal races
In these mid-term elections, all members of the U.S. House of Representatives are up for re-election, but only one-third of the U.S. Senate. Our coverage area is in New Hampshire’s second Congressional district, where incumbent Annie Kuster is being challenged by Steve Negron and Justin O’Donnell. In Vermont incumbent Peter Welch has three challengers: Cris Ericson, Laura Potter, and Anya Tynio. Sen. Bernie Sanders is also running for re-election and has several challengers: Folasade Adeluola, Russell Beste, Bruce Busa, Edward S. Gilbert Jr., Reid Kane, Brad J. Peacock, Jon Svitavsky, and Lawrence Zupan.
Third-party candidates
In addition to Republican and Democratic candidates, you will find third-party candidates on your ballot. In Vermont there are candidates from the Liberty Union, Earth Rights, and Progressive parties, while in New Hampshire, the most common third-party is the Libertarian Party. You do not have to be registered in one of these parties to vote for their candidates.
NH ballot questions
New Hampshire voters will be expected to vote on two amendments to the state constitution. According to Ballotpedia, “Question 1 would add language to the New Hampshire Constitution stating that a taxpayer has a right to take legal action against the state or local government where the taxpayer resides to declare that the government spent, or has approved spending, public funds in violation of a law, ordinance, or constitutional provision,” and “Question 2 would add language to the New Hampshire Constitution stating that ‘An individual’s right to live free from governmental intrusion in private or personal information is natural, essential, and inherent.’”
We have included a few sample ballots in our pages, but you can look up what will be on your ballot at Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/Sample_Ballot_Lookup.
Local elections
We were unable to find a sample ballot for Claremont voters (see one from Newport at right), and voters in the city must vote for both the state representative from their ward and also for the floterial district (District 10) that represents all the wards at once. In Ward 1 (Sullivan County District 3) incumbent Francis Gauthier, a Republican, is facing Andrew O’Hearne, a Democrat and presently a member of the Claremont City Council. When the Eagle Times sent questionnaires to both of these candidates, neither responded. In Ward 2 (Sullivan County District 4) incumbent John O’Connor, a Republican, is facing a challenge from Democrat Gary Merchant. Both candidates responded to our questionnaire and their responses can be read at the Eagle Times website. In Ward 3 (Sullivan County District 5) the race is between Democrat Chad Rolston and Republican Walt Stapleton. Neither candidate responded to our questionnaire.
The floterial district exists to insure that each citizen gets the representation they are promised by the New Hampshire Constitution. It encompasses all three wards, which is to say if you live in any of these wards you should also cast a vote in contest of Sullivan County District 10. The incumbent is Democrat John Cloutier and Republican Conlin Smith is attempting to replace him. Both candidates responded to our questionnaire; see their responses at eagletimes.com.
Our coverage area in New Hampshire is part of two districts of the Executive Council. Claremont is in Executive Council District 1 and the incumbent is Republican Joe Kenney of Wakefield. He is running against Democrat Michael Cryans of Hanover (he is a Grafton County commissioner) and Libertarian Tobin Menard of Newport. We did not get responses from these candidates. The southern part of our coverage area — Charlestown, Unity and south and eastward — is part of Executive Council District 2, where the incumbent is Andru Volinsky, a Democrat from Concord and his opponent is Republican James Beard of Lempster. See their responses to our questionnaire at eagletimes.com.
Several other candidates did not respond to our questionnaire. This include those for Sullivan County District 8. Republican Thomas Laware of Charlestown will try to keep his seat in the state House of Representatives in face of a challenge from Democrat John Streeter of Charlestown. In state Senate District 5 incumbent Martha Hennessey, a Democrat from Hanover, is running against Republican Patrick Lozito of Claremont.
Top of the states
The governor’s races are heavily covered by the media and we did not send questionnaires to the candidate, preferring to focus our resources on less covered local races.
In New Hampshire former state Sen. Molly Kelly, a Democrate from Harrisville, would like to return to Concord by unseating one-term Republican Chris Sununu of Newfields.
Not be forgotten is independent candidate Jilletta Jarvis. Jarvis is a Libertarian from Sandown.
In Vermont the contest is primarily between the incumbent Republican Phil Scott of Montpelier, Vermont and Democratic challenger Christine Hallquist of Hyde Park, Vermont. There are, however, five other candidates. Stephen Marx of Strafford, Vt. is the Earth Rights Party candidate and Emily Peyton of Putney, Vt. is the Liberty Union candidate. The independents are Chuck Laramie of Fair Haven, Trevor Barlow of Proctorsville, Vt., and Chris Ericson of Chester, Vt., who is also running for the U.S. House of Representatives.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.