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Some absentee ballots received, in-person voting set for Claremont primary

By PATRICK ADRIAN
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CLAREMONT — The ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a surge of absentee ballots heading into Tuesday’s primary elections, and with it an unusual early start by city election officials.

On Labor Day morning, Claremont polling station officials gathered in the city clerk’s office to begin processing returned absentee ballots. Officials from each voting ward worked in scheduled sessions between 9 a.m. to noon, opening each envelope, checking the voter’s signature and verifying the voter’s name and address with the city’s voter registry.

“Normally we’d not be allowed to do this until election day,” explained City Clerk Gwen Melcher. But the state has granted a special allowance this year to election officials, with more absentee ballots anticipated this election cycle due to the pandemic.

For this primary, Claremont served 467 total requests for absentee ballots. As of Monday 358 ballots have been returned..

“This [total] is more than what we sent out for the presidential election four years ago,” Melcher said. “And this is just the primary.”

It took each ward’s officials approximately an hour apiece to open, verify and check off the received ballots in their registry. Melcher said it would probably have taken the officials three to four times as long if waiting until election day, given their other responsibilities.

Members of the Sullivan County Democrats, Rep. John Cloutier and Rep. Gary Merchant attended the processing as observers.

Cloutier said he wanted to learn of any party-registered voters whose ballots might be challenged, such as by a lack of signature on the ballot.

The voter must sign the absentee ballot for it to be counted. While this mistake might be irreversible in larger municipalities like Manchester or Concord, in Claremont election officials are not too overwhelmed to call the resident and allow an opportunity to sign. Voters contacted yesterday had until Monday at 5 p.m. to add their signature.

The bigger potential concern in Claremont were the still outstanding ballots.

As of Monday, 109 absentee ballots have not been returned. This may not be an issue for all, as some ballots may be submitted on Tuesday or the requestor may be intending now to vote in person.

But 35% of the outstanding ballots, according to records, were only requested within the last seven days. This likely means a narrower window to receive one’s ballot by mail, and even less time to return the ballot to the city clerk’s office by the Tuesday deadline of 5 p.m.

Absentee voters may physically submit their ballot to the city clerk personally or through a family member, or the voter may send it by mail. Merchant said voters need to understand that the Tuesday deadline refers to when the city clerk must have the envelope, not when it is postmarked.

Melcher said that the Claremont Post Office has been sending ballot envelopes directly to the clerk’s office, rather than routing them to the White River Jct., Vermont branch, which typically dispatches sending mail for the region. This process has reduced the time to receive locally mailed absentee ballots.

Notable primary contests

Tuesday’s primary day will allow voters to choose the Democratic and Republican party candidates for county, state and congressional seats.

Notable incumbents seeking reelection include Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D), Rep. Annie Kuster (D) and Gov. Chris Sununu (R). All three incumbents face challengers on both the Democratic and Republican ballots.

Two notable contests of interest to Claremont voters are the State Senate seat and the 1st County Commissioner seat.

Two Democrats and one Republican are vying for the vacant State Senate seat, currently occupied by Martha Hennessey, who is not seeking reelection. On the Democratic ballot, former state representative and Dartmouth professor Beatriz Pastor, Lyme, is running against Sue Prentis, a Lebanon city councilor and former mayor. On the Republican ballot, Timothy O’Hearne, Charlestown, is running unopposed.

For county commissioner, two write-in candidates from Claremont are vying for their respective party’s nomination: Raymond “Ray” Gagnon for the Democratic Party and Joseph “Joe” Osgood for the Republican Party. Departing County Commissioner Jeff Barrett announced his intent not to seek reelection after the filing deadline.

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