By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
NEWPORT, N.H. — Despite a race for school board with three candidates vying for a pair of three-year seats, turnout was sparse at the Newport School District elections on Tuesday.
At 3:17 p.m. on Tuesday, the sun was shining and it was in the mid-60s. This was a bit different than two years ago when a snowstorm hit the region, but that didn’t mean turnout would be much higher, apparently. So far, there were 298 of the district’s approximately 4,000 registered voters had cast a ballot, and there was not one new registered voter.
To put this into perspective, the year of the snowstorm had 232 voters come out to the polls all day. Last year, 808 voters turned out, which was about 20%.
School District Clerk Robert Scott and School Board Chair Steve Morris both agreed that there were not many contestable items on the warrant, and no major tax impact, which could have been a reason for voters ignoring the election.
“It’s been pretty slow all day up to now,” Morris said. “Hopefully there is a little bit of energy the rest of the way.”
With just under four hours to go until the polls closed, Scott and Morris both pointed out that there could be a rush when people get out of work, but neither expected a huge increase.
School Board candidates Jessica Packard and Keith Sayer were outside greeting voters from the start of the day, and both said there were no surges to speak of.
“It’s been steady all day but not a lot of heavy traffic,” Packard said.
Sayer pointed out that the November election had a massive turnout, as there were lines out the door to vote. However, this was for a presidential election year, which are typically much higher than other elections.
Packard echoed Morris and Scott, saying articles didn’t have much of an impact on taxes. She and Sayer both agreed that the current school board did a good job with the budget, as it showed a change of only one cent in the tax rate.
“Kudos to all involved,” Sayer said.
Sayer said if the reason was clear for why people don’t vote, they would try to influence a change.
“It is tough to say why,” Sayer said. “Not sure if it is low energy or low interest.”
However, between 3:15 and 3:45 p.m. there were about 25 people who came through to vote.
One voter was Jasmyn Wilkinson, who said she was there simply to vote and did not have a particular candidate she was stumping for. However, she did vote in favor of the support staff’s collective bargaining agreement, saying she supported giving them raises.
When asked how she felt about the low turnout, Wilkinson said she wasn’t surprised.
“I didn’t expect a lot of people because it is a small election,” Wilkinson said. “I’ve learned that these don’t really bring big turnouts.”
Walter Ryan also cast a ballot in the SAU 43 election but would not disclose who he voted for. However, he said he “supported the warrant articles and “certainly supported the CBA.” Ryan votes in just about every election, and this one was no different.
He had theories of why the turnout was low, but nothing definitive. He pointed out that in some countries, like Australia, residents are required to vote. He didn’t know if this was exactly the right move either but said maybe if registering to vote was easier there would be more people casting ballots.
“You just can’t force people to become involved and vote,” Ryan said.
