News

Moderators report turnout rise as voters use ballot to voice concerns

By Patrick Adrian
[email protected]
City voter turnout on Tuesday dwarfed the numbers from previous elections, with election officials citing unprecedented volumes of new voter registrations and absentee ballot requests.

More than 2,300 Claremont voters had cast ballots at the polls by noon, approximating to a 36% turnout of total registered voters in the city, with over six hours remaining before the polls closed and a likely surge expected from residents returning home from work.

In the early afternoon, voters continued to trickle steadily through the polling locations of Claremont Middle School (for Wards 1 and 2) and Disnard Elementary School (for Ward 3). The volume of voters had dissipated some since the polls first opened, when the Ward 1 voting line had wrapped around the outside corner of the middle school.

“This is actually a lull,” said Alison Raymond, Ward 2 moderator.

Raymond said that voter activity had been relatively non-stop since the polls opened at 8 a.m.

Both Raymond and Elaine Osgood, Ward 1 moderator, said this year’s voter turnout has been the largest they have encountered.

“It’s been very steady and hectic,” said Elaine Osgood, Claremont’s Ward 1 moderator. “It’s the biggest turnout I’ve ever had [in six years as a moderator].”

The in-person voting count did not include the historically high volume of absentee ballots this year. Osgood said that the city had received a total of 1,200 returned absentee ballots as on Monday but an additional number of ballots have been returned since then.

Returned absentee ballots in 2020 are about three times what Claremont received in the 2016 election, according to city data. The surge in absentee voting results directly from the state’s expansion of permissible reasons to vote by absentee ballot due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Claremont moderators also reported a sizable increase in new voter registrations on Tuesday. As of 12:30 p.m. election volunteers at Wards 1 and 2 had registered over 120 new voters, which accounts for 8% of the in-person ballots cast.

At Ward 3 at Disnard Elementary School, a line of seven people stood waiting to register. Several of these new registrants were young adults who were voting in their first presidential election.

Sisters Meghan Strecker, 21, and Caitlyn Strecker, 19, said this election was greatly about making a statement regarding the country’s current political and societal direction. The sisters did not indicate who they voted for but specified their concerns about the hostility permeating in America’s discourse as a primary reason for voting.

“It’s important to know what everyone’s thoughts are and to make one’s voice heard,” Meghan said.

Other voters similarly said this presidential election feels more about determining America’s values and treatment of others than about policy differences.

“The last time I voted in a presidential election was for Al Gore [in 2000],” said resident Kathleen Harlow. “I’m not a very political person but today we needed to vote. This is just one of those presidential elections we had to make our voice heard.”

Harlow had accompanied her son Adrian Harlow, 20, to Disnard Elementary School so he could register and vote.

“This [election] was not what I would have expected for the first time voting,” Adrian Harlow said.

Despite the large crowds, election workers and observers said that the process had run smoothly and peacefully throughout the day.

“People have been masked and polite and been trying to socially distance,” Raymond said. “So all in all, it has been a good day.”

Between the anticipated turnout and new safety precautions around the pandemic, more campaign volunteers were needed this year to run the polls, including about six volunteers per ward to distribute ballots, as opposed to two or three volunteers in previous years.

“Everyone has been doing a great job,” Osgood said. “We have a lot of new people volunteering but I am quite pleased.”

In the days leading up to Election Day, area police chiefs said their officers would be additionally vigilant while monitoring polling places as some residents and candidates expressed worry about public safety during a particularly contentious election.

In anticipation of Election Day, the Claremont Police Department assigned one officer to each of the city’s polling locations, at Claremont Middle School and Disnard Elementary School, Claremont Police Chief Mark Chase confirmed on Monday. These officers remained throughout the voting day to assist with traffic flow and monitor the gatherings of campaigners outside the polling stations.

“We want to assure residents that our polls will be safe,” Chase told the Eagle Times on Friday. “Our officers will be consistently present at the polling sites to help with the traffic and make sure that electioneering rules are being abided.”

These officers only monitored activity outside the building and not in the voting space, Chase added.

Police monitoring of election activities is not new. Police officials in Claremont, Newport, Charlestown and Lebanon told the Eagle Times they often assign officers to monitor traffic and crowds for presidential elections, which typically draw the highest volumes of voters.

Newport Police Chief Brent Wilmer said that Newport had at least one officer stationed throughout the voting day at Newport Middle High School, where Newport operated its polls. Like Claremont, Newport’s police divided their responsibilities between assisting traffic and monitoring the conduct of electioneers.

Wilmer, who served 15 years in the Claremont Police Department before taking over as Newport’s chief in February said that it is harder for communities with more than one polling place, such as Claremont, to station officers all day at each location.

Wilmer said he never personally encountered an issue with campaigners in Claremont though situations needing police intervention would occur on occasion.

Sometimes people’s passions would run high and require an officer to calm the parties, Wilmer said. On other occasions, a campaigner might violate the state’s electioneering laws by attempting to campaign or bring campaign materials within the prohibited zone.

Rep. Virginia “Biddy” Irwin (D-Dist. 6), a Newport resident, said that the town has usually had an officer outside the polling place for all or most of the voting day. Prior to this year, Newport had located its polling station at the Newport Opera House on Main Street, which created more traffic and parking congestion and limited space for campaigners to stand.

“When the crowd seemed to be rowdy the police would be there to remind people to stay apart,” Irwin said.

While the presence of Newport police is not new, there was a greater focus this year on the election crowd, particularly people who could potentially come from outside the community, Irwin said.

Liza Draper, a Claremont resident and Democratic Party candidate for state representative, pointed to the elevated intensity of rhetoric and behaviors this year, not only those of politicians but voters. In one example, Draper cited a recent Facebook post by Jon Stone, a Claremont resident running for state representative, that has concerned some residents.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Oct. 30, Stone, while explaining his support for preserving the right to carry a firearm inside a New Hampshire polling place, ended by writing “Stay Armed & Stay Vigilant.”

Stone told the Eagle Times that his comment was not in reference specifically to Election Day but the importance of exercising protections under the Second Amendment on a daily basis.

“I am a strong advocate for the Second Amendment,” Stone responded. “We in New Hampshire are very lucky we have not seen the level of civil unrest many parts of the country have been experiencing. The statement of “Stay Armed and Stay Vigilant” certainly applies 365 days a year, not just on November 3, 2020.”

Stone, a Claremont city councilor, said he had received some letters from residents asking that the city prohibit voters from being able to carry a firearm into the polling place. Stone responded that he would never support suspending a person’s Second Amendment rights and that municipalities do not have authority under New Hampshire law to implement a carrying ban.

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