Posted on 01/09/2008 4:30:11 AM PST by abb
Lines formed early, remained solid throughout the warm, sunny day, and late arrivals had to be turned away.
It was an historic presidential primary vote in New Hampshire, as a record number of residents - nearly 500,000 - cast ballots.
"The turnout reports throughout the state have been very, very heavy," said Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlon.
Sixty-four percent of registered voters in Manchester came out, with the unofficial citywide count at 36,241.
"I know we have to have hit a record turnout for a primary," said City Clerk Carol Johnson.
Turnout was heaviest in Ward 3 at 78 percent; lightest in Wards 5, 11 and 12 at about 56 percent.
City election workers at tables set up to handle same-day registration rarely got a breather.
"Busy, busy, busy," said Helen Van Rossum, processing new Ward 12 voters in Northwest Elementary School's gymnasium. "People are registering who haven't voted in 15, 20 years."
Nicole Pepin, 26, waited in a long line yesterday morning to cast her first-ever ballot.
"I think it's about time that I actually get my opinion in there," said Pepin, who hopes a switch in presidential gender will bring a switch in sensibility.
"I think a woman in the White House could seriously affect the way this country's run," said the Hillary Clinton supporter.
When polls opened at 6 a.m. in Manchester, there was already a long line and a 20-minute wait outside Brookside Congregational Church in Ward 1.
Anyone in place by 7 p.m., said clerk Dianne Beaton, was allowed to vote, but an election official stepped in line to mark the endpoint and turn away late arrivals.
"This is as good as any presidential turnout I've ever seen, and I've been fiddling with these things since 1968," said Ward 2 Selectman Wayne Johnson, running through about 300 ballots per hour at Hillside Middle School.
The state's population growth - up about 100,000 since the 2000 primary's record turnout of 396,000 - and 60-degree weather in the southern tier, were factors in yesterday's turnout.
Political experts also point to this year's crowded field of candidates, without a sitting President or vice president among them.
"In this primary," said Secretary of State William Gardner, "there's really no one in the state who can say they have no one to vote for. There's someone from everyone."
In 2000, Republicans cast 239,532 ballots; Democrats totaled 156,862. That construct didn't hold.
Early returns showed about 60 percent of votes cast on the Democratic side.
Some city and town clerks were running low on Democratic ballots by mid-afternoon.
"The Democratic side was much heavier than the Republican side this time around," said Carol Johnson, Manchester's city clerk.
Johnson had to scramble at about 2 p.m. when she heard Ward 3 was running out of new voter registration forms.
She had already heard from several ward moderators calling with warnings of ballots running low.
Several, including Wards 1, 6 and 12, had to use absentee ballots, and Johnson had to supply a few with photocopied, initialed ballots. Those, she said, were "certified, sealed and distributed with a police escort."
Johnson said it was unclear last night whether any of those ballots had to actually be used.
As polls were closing, Scanlon said several town clerks had to dip into reserve ballots.
Londonderry, Merrimack and Bedford, said Scanlon, were among towns "down to the wire" on supplies, and his office had to deliver several hundred extra ballots to Salem.
Procedure, he said, is to use absentee ballots and photocopy those as needed. Any of those ballots, he said, would have to be initialed by the town clerk and counted by hand.
In Keene, Jennifer Walsh in the city clerk's office said ballots ran low last night and absentee ballots were distributed to some wards but ultimately weren't needed.
By 5 p.m., the Republican stronghold of New Castle reported nearly every voter marked off its checklist.
In the small Lakes Region town of Wolfeboro, more than 1,200 people had voted by 10 a.m.
Bow election officials projected turnout to top 75 percent.
Lines were reported outside polling places most of the day in Bedford, Milford and Peterborough, and along the Seacoast in Portsmouth, Durham and Newmarket.
Another factor in pushing turnout through the roof was the relatively strong finish of Republican Ron Paul with about 8 percent of the vote.
"The people who are attracted to him are people who might otherwise not vote," said Paul Manuel, executive director of the Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College.
http://www.nhpr.org/node/14727
Large Numbers Turn Out to Vote in Manchester
By Ellen Grimm on Tuesday, January 8, 2008.
An especially large number of people showed up at Manchester’s Beech Street School to register before voting.
New Hampshire is one of only a few states that allow same-day registration.
NHPR Correspondent Ellen Grimm reports.
At ten-thirty this morning, eight people were waiting in line at the same-day registration table at the Beech Street School polling place in Manchester.
Several more people were seated before the registrars, displaying their identification materials - passports, drivers licenses, and bills with mailing addresses.
Jeff Michaelson is the Ward 5 moderator.
The turnout has been such that in order to accomodate this overflow of people we’ve had to take one of our normal poll workers and deputize him as a deputy registrar, in order to accomodate the number of people that are showing up to do that.
Michaelson said he expects high turnout throughout the day. After only several hours, he said, they’d seen more than half as many people as they’d seen all day during last fall’s municipal elections.
For NHPR News in Manchester I’m Ellen Grimm.
Where’s ward 3 relative to the border?
Is it true that in NH, the voter who just registered
need only claim the he/she will be living in NH by 11/2008?
don’t know the answer to that
Much less a resident or among the living.
Or, some thought they were signing up for Hannah Montana tickets!!!
Interestingly, the incomplete numbers that I have seen look like Republicans cast roughly the same number of ballots in New Hampshire in 2000 and 2008, but the Democrats have somehow gone from 156,000 in 2000 to over 280,000 in 2008.
New Hampshire youth vote: Will it come down to college towns?
...A recent change in state law allows college students to register under their school addresses without losing residency status in their home states.
Handy, that.
Immigration Impact: New Hampshire
...New Hampshire population increased by 17.8 percent between 1990 and 2000, and by 6.0 percent between 2000 and 2006, bringing New Hampshire’s total population to approximately 1.3 million.
Approximately 15.2 percent of the total population increase between 2000 and 2006 in New Hampshire was directly attributable to immigrants.
FAIR estimates the illegal alien population in 2005 at 7,000.
According to an estimate of the Pew Hispanic Center, in 2005 there were an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 illegal aliens living in New Hampshire.
Photo ID to vote, anyone?
Wondering out loud: How many were really NH residents?
Did the NH college-area precincts swing more toward Hillary, McCain, or Barry? Many college-aged kids I talk to “really like” McCain...for some reason.
Democrats have somehow gone from 156,000 in 2000 to over 280,000 in 2008.
I think the democrats are very excited about the November election more so than a long time. I think they believe it is “their turn”. Republicans could still get excited but I have not seen it yet...
I wouldn’t put anything past the crime family.
She said yesterday, “I have a feeling that we’re going to win.” (perhaps as the busloads of same-day voters arrived to do her bidding?)
If they do a cross check for matches between counties, I bet they hit the jackpot. After Florida 2000 they have had a difficult time stuffing the ballot box, so this is their new tactic. They dont give up.
This is awesome. It’s always heartening to see Americans, even liberals, come out and vote. I hope this carries over through the primary season and into Nov. 4th. Apolitical and just plain lazy Americans do a massive disservice to one of our core institutions.
Now THAT is convenient.
All students get to vote in at least two states
in the US election.
If they do a cross check for matches between counties, I bet they hit the jackpot. After Florida 2000 they have had a difficult time stuffing the ballot box, so this is their new tactic. They dont give up.
There, I fixed that statement for you. Believe me, there were plenty of snowbird RATs voting in both the 2000 and 2004 elections in the southern states. As much as I hate the idea, I do believe it is time for a national voter ID card.
FWIW, forget photo ID. I wouldn't mind coughing up a fingerprint in order to vote. That would make voter fraud a lot harder and more expensive. And if we prosecuted any that did occur with a mandatory fifty year sentence upon conviction, we'd have even less of it.
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