After work I headed down the our local
election polling place, in this case located in the gym of our middle
school. One thing I noticed right off was not so much something that
was there but something that wasn't: volunteers holding election
signs. There were none.
It wasn't until I got to the entrance
to the school that I saw a few campaign signs lying side by side on
the ground. But no one was outside holding the signs of their
candidate. That is something I haven't seen in all the years I've
been voting. It could have been the time of day as I got out of work
a little earlier than usual as I wanted to avoid the post-work crush
at the polls. The volunteers may have shown up after I had already
voted and headed home.
While there was a lack of campaign
volunteers, that was not the case for voters.
When I finally entered the gym there
were moderately long lines at voter check-in. And while I didn't have
to wait more than a couple of minutes in my line (the lines are
separated alphabetically), others had more than a dozen or so people
in front of them waiting to check in and get their ballots.
Voting itself took all of 30 seconds,
with the most of that time spent looking for my candidate's name.
(The candidates are listed in random order chosen by lot rather than
in alphabetic order, a change made to New Hampshire's election laws
some time ago.)
On my way to drop off my ballot in the
ballot box I asked the town clerk if it had been busy. Her response:
“Since the moment we opened the doors!” Apparently that's been
the case just about everywhere across the Granite State, with a heavy
turnout, particularly for the Republicans.
As I write this the last of the polls
should be closing and we should start hearing the results any time
now.