By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD – Election turnout next Tuesday is going to be “very high,” said Secretary of State Dave Scanlan who noted he would not be surprised if it “is another record turnout,” and he believes state election workers are ready.

Meeting with his staff and the press Tuesday a week ahead of the big day, Scanlan said he wanted to assure voters that the system is set up to be very safe, transparent and unique from other states and that there are no current credible threats to the voting process.

But he urged voters to be vigilant, bring their identification to the polls and if registering for the first time, expect a bit of a wait.

Scanlan said he will offer predictions for turnout this week.

He is expected to address the Executive Council Wednesday at its breakfast meeting at 8 a.m. at the state Fish and Game Headquarters, according to the governor’s office.

Speaking to voters Tuesday, Scanlan said the state in recent years has been among the top three in the country for turnout due to a “culture” of taking voting seriously, heading to the polls on election day and gathering with old neighbors and friends to vote in person, unlike other states where this is a ritual.

Scanlan said a good indicator of high turnout is the high number of requested absentee ballot requests – 85,000 –  which represents almost 10 percent of the number of registered voters.

As of today, Scanlan said there are 901,784 voters on the rolls right now with the highest block being those who are unaffiliated with a party or undeclared/independent. That number is 331,519. 

Second behind those independent voters are the number of registered Republicans, at 304,340. The number of registered Democrats is at 265,925, Scanlan said.

This is the first presidential election since over 100,000 voters’ names were purged from the checklists following a cleaning process every decade and Scanlan predicted that there are going to be some who find their name is not on the list and likely a large number of election day registrations, which could add to some delays for those individuals, particularly in college towns.

But he expects things to run smoothly as always.

Absentee Ballots

He urged anyone who has not mailed in their absentee ballots to do so immediately to allow the postal service to get them to the clerk’s offices as state law requires ballots be only counted if received by 5 p.m. on election day.

To accommodate a predicted high volume of expected same-day registrants, Scanlan said his office has sent out extra ballots to the various precincts around the state and has in place a plan to deal with any needs for more ballots.

He noted the state does not have ballot boxes, such as the ones in Washington State and Oregon some of which were recently set on fire.

In New Hampshire, you vote on election day or by absentee ballot with an excuse.

“The process is transparent, it’s observable. We can trust the results and I think that when you look at what is happening in other places around the country, voter confidence is dependent on the voters believing that their vote is going to be accurately counted. There is no question that with the system that we have in New Hampshire, the checks and balances that are at play, that we have a great process that does that,” Scanlan said.

There are 308 polling places across New Hampshire with some of the smallest and largest precincts in the country. Approximately 2,500 election officials who are elected by their voters are supported by thousands of volunteer poll workers, he said.

“It is a really large, impressive effort,” he said. 

“These people are doing a civic duty.”

Scanlan wanted voters to “recognize those individuals for the job they do.”

He said the state’s voting is unique in many ways in this country. There is no top-down, employer-employee relationship in the chain of command with elections. 

The power is at the town and precinct level and borne by those who elected them.

“With all these elected individuals fulfilling their statutory roles there is very little opportunity for collusion and conspiracy and things like that,” he said. “It would be a very difficult thing to pull off.”

The Attorney General’s Office is in charge of enforcement of election laws including inappropriate activity at the polls and by poll workers. 

If you wear an item of clothing in support of a candidate on the ballot including a MAGA hat, you might be asked to take it off or cover it inside the polling area, Scanlan said. Wearing clothing of past candidates or officials not on the ballot is fine, he said.  

The Secretary of State’s office is in charge of the administration of the elections and makes sure that the appropriate training has taken place for poll workers. It prepares the ballots and distributes them, maintains the voter database and will compile results and conduct any recounts.

“We are ready. All of the ballots have been printed and distributed to all of the cities and towns. Absentee ballots have been issued now for a good three weeks and all of that is going well. The election officials have all been trained and I believe they are all prepared so things are shaping up to be a smooth election, knock on wood,” Scanlan said.

He said this state’s process has withstood the test of time and should be one where voters feel confident that their ballot cast will be counted accurately.