With control of Congress and political power in Concord on the ballot this November, election watchers are expecting strong turnout in New Hampshire on Nov. 3. The officials tasked with carrying out the vote — from local volunteers to top state prosecutors — say systems are in place to ensure a smooth process and accurate ballot count.
That’s despite a national backdrop thick with uncertainty over potential challenges to results and unsubstantiated claims of fraud.
“I am optimistic this is going to go well,” Sean Locke, who heads the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Election Law Unit, said in an interview last week. “I suffer from maybe crippling optimism. But we have no indications that anything should kind of go awry.”
This fall’s election comes at a time of continued uncertainty amid unfounded claims of widespread election fraud. At the national level, the Trump administration has sought to limit access to mail-in voting, though federal courts have blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing new protocols for delivering ballots before the November election.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice has also sought to obtain confidential voter rolls from more than two dozen states including New Hampshire, though each of those lawsuits has been rejected. Just last week, the federal government filed a challenge to the results of Alaska’s senate race, in a highly unusual move.
Locally, federal election observers were dispatched to polling locations in Manchester and Nashua during September’s state primary. The government did not report finding any flaws in how election officials in those cities conducted the primary.
On Election Day, Locke said 50 to 60 state prosecutors will fan out across New Hampshire to visit polling locations and attempt to manage any complications that may emerge. The agency also staffs a hotline that local voting officials and concerned residents can call. Two years ago, the hotline received approximately 300 calls, with topics ranging from questions about electioneering outside of polling locations to malfunctions with special voting equipment for people with disabilities.
“We try to be prepared for what may come up,” Locke said. “But we haven't received anything that indicates this should run any differently than any other election.”
Locally run
In Londonderry, where more than 10,000 people are expected to pass through a single polling place on Nov. 3, a small army of residents — some paid, some volunteer — will help run the election.
“It is still very local,” said Jonathan Kipp, Londonderry’s town moderator.
Londonderry uses ballot-counting devices to speed up its tallying. This election, the New Hampshire Secretary of State has approved the use of two different machines, made by Dominion and VotingWorks. All votes statewide are cast on paper ballots, ensuring a hard copy backup; 110 communities in the state, mostly smaller towns, continue to count ballots by hand.
Kipp said on Election Day, every step of the process, from registering new voters to tallying at the end of the evening, is done in full public view.
“If you wanted to come in and watch, you are welcome to do so,” he said.
In Hanover, election officials are preparing for an estimated 500 or more same-day registrants, many of them students at Dartmouth College.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a ban on the use of school-issued IDs in the state can remain in effect for the upcoming election, overturning an earlier order from a district court judge. Tracy Walsh, Hanover’s town clerk, said in practice most students bring other forms of identification with them to vote. She said student groups on campus have also been monitoring the legal fight and disseminating information.
“I'm really not anticipating an issue with that,” she said.
With just two months separating New Hampshire’s September primary and the general election, many volunteers and elected voting officials have recent experience running a polling location. Walsh said that repetition, and that local residents staff the polls, helps build trust.
“Someone you see at the grocery store is there helping out at elections,” she said. “It's one of our strengths.”
