Southern New Hampshire election officials and poll workers say they are ready for their close-ups with the spotlight on them for the first-in-the-nation presidential primary on Tuesday.
It’s not quite their Super Bowl, but more their warm-up game, Salem Town Moderator Chris Goodnow said.
Town election officials recruited their ballot clerks and trained newcomers. They tested their ballot-counting machines. They underwent training on hand counts and anything they may encounter.
Now, it’s showtime.
Election officials like Goodnow and Atkinson Town Clerk Julianna Hale have diligently prepared their election teams for the big night.
Salem election officials held one last training session on Saturday to go over their poll tablet devices for the election, something the town is implementing for this election. They used the electronic devices during a recent special election. The tablet lets the voter check in with any ballot clerk and allows for more accuracy and efficiency in the overall voting process.
“We are hopeful we can reduce our check-in time by 40%,” Goodnow said, as their primary elections are the second largest voter turnout they see in any four-year cycle.
That will be important, he added, as a large voter turnout is expected for the presidential primary in Salem.
He projected this one could see anywhere from 10,000 to 11,000 residents come out to vote, but also predicts most will be from one party.
“I suspect we might set a record for Republican ballots cast,” Goodnow said. “But write-ins will likely be more substantive this time.”
Hale agreed just by looking at the ballots, there will likely be a bigger draw to the polls from one side over the other.
There’s also the Democratic push to write in President Joe Biden’s name on the ballot since it will be missing. Goodnow said more write-ins on those ballots could delay the town’s election results by an hour with reporting possibly coming around midnight.
When preparing for this election, Hale looked at year-to-year results. She said the 2020 elections were an anomaly with factors like the COVID pandemic that made predicting voter turnout for this primary more challenging.
Based on Atkinson’s number of absentee ballots, Hale said there is not as much participation so she can’t gauge how many people will turn out at the polls and write in Biden’s name.
“I’m assuming we will have a good number of write-in’s, but it shouldn’t be as challenging with the right number of team members,” Hale said.
In Salem, 125 people will be ready on Tuesday to work the town’s election and whatever may be thrown at them during the day and after polls close.
The town recruited poll workers for the presidential election, but have been able to appropriately staff their five polling locations with town election officials, the Supervisors of the Checklist and ballot clerks.
In Atkinson, Hale said they met their numbers for poll workers and didn’t have any problems filling those roles.
“We are very fortunate to have a loyal group of ballot clerks year to year who are experienced in the role,” Hale said. “If we have new ones come on, we do a thorough training.”
Atkinson has a variety of party affiliations represented as ballot clerks to best represent the voters, Hale added.
Her election team has undergone training to make sure they are as efficient as possible on primary night.
“We prepare in advance to have as many hands on at the end of the night to make it go smoothly,” Hale said. “But if we find a few more bodies, in case someone calls out, then we are in even better shape.”
The first-in-the-nation primary, with the unexpected factor like those write-in’s, has Hale stumped over how Tuesday night will play out.
She also said there are likely a lot of undeclared voters who will add another wild card in Atkinson’s results.
“As the first-in the nation, the first primary, we have nothing to go on to figure out how many people might actually come in and follow through on that campaign ask,” she said.
One thing is certain: The nation will be watching.
'; var element = document.getElementById("sub_message"); element.appendChild(subMessage); console.log("Code Loaded!"); } else { var subMessage = document.createElement('div'); subMessage.id = 'sub-message-top'; subMessage.class = 'panel panel-default'; subMessage.style.backgroundColor = '#eee'; subMessage.style.borderRadius = '5px'; subMessage.style.padding = '10px'; subMessage.style.marginTop = '25px'; subMessage.style.marginBottom = '25px'; subMessage.innerHTML = '
Support local journalism.
Subscribe Today'; var element = document.getElementById("sub_message"); element.appendChild(subMessage); console.log("Code Loaded!"); }}
