By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
Voter turnout tends to be higher in presidential elections, and with the potential for the first female president or the election of a polarizing former president with a devoted following, this was definitely the case on Tuesday at local polls.
Newport Selectman Jeff North had been manning the door at the polls all day and was happy to report that people were lined up and ready to cast their ballots right from the start. Voters spilled in throughout the day to exercise their right to vote for public officials, from state representatives and senators to the next president of the United States.
“Voting is part of the Democratic process that allows us, the citizens of this country, to choose the direction of the country through representation,” North said as he greeted and directed voters into the Newport Middle School gymnasium. “This is proof that it’s not lost. I got here around 7:30 and by 7:40 I saw people lined up all the way around the corner. People wanted to be the first in line to vote. It’s really a great country.”
North said one of the best things about watching the line of voters was that other than a few tells, he could not differentiate who was voting red or blue.
“Maybe the media is showing something differently than the reality of it, like there is some sort of super divide,” North said. “You don’t see it in the line, and you’d think that would be where you’d expect to see it. I certainly don’t see that. I would not be able to tell you just by observing who is voting which way.”
Assistant Moderator Paul Brown agreed that it had been a great turnout, saying that he wishes this was something seen in local elections. This was Brown’s second election as assistant moderator, and he said getting your voice heard is the American way.
“It’s one of our duties as citizens and we really need to do it, and let people know this is what we think about the people leading our country and where we’re headed,” Brown said. “It’s great to see this kind of turnout.”
Town Clerk Liselle Dufort pointed out that everyone she had come across had been particularly cordial, as well. This was verified by the police security at the polls, saying there had been no issues to speak of. Dufort said all was smooth sailing throughout the day.
“We’ve been working on prepping this for a year-and-a-half at least, so to see people happy and taking this as seriously as they are, this really makes all the work worth it,” Dufort said. “Our new self-check in for absentees and new voters allowed us to clear the line down the sidewalk in about an hour. When I’m back at the office after the election and can upload the information, I am expecting check in to be 10 seconds or less. That will be huge.”
Newport saw 4,106 ballots cast.
Claremont Ward 3 Moderator Bill Blewitt and Supervisor of the Checklist Ann Richmond were both impressed with the way voters were hitting the polls. At about 1:30 p.m. there were already 916 ballots cast out of a total of 2,006 registered voters in the ward. Richmond added that there had been about 100 voters who registered that day.
“We’re already at almost 50% already, and we have all these same day registrations,” Blewitt said. “I’m just here to ensure that people get to vote. How it turns out is not my concern, but a good turnout is good for everybody.”
Blewitt said they opened at 8 a.m. and, like Newport, people were chomping at the bit to get inside and vote.
“We had 125 voters in the first 25 minutes,” he said. “We usually have that, depending on the election, but over two or three hours.”
Blewitt said 70% would be a high turnout, and he was expecting higher than that especially because of the same day registrations.
“We have 2,047 ballots here, and we might just use them all,” he said.
Claremont’s total voter turnout was 86% with 6,020 ballots cast.
