More than 814,000 people voted in New Hampshire in the 2020 presidential election – more than ever before in New Hampshire’s history and 76 percent of the state’s registered voters, placing New Hampshire in the top three states in the country for voter turnout.
According to the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s website, in 2020, the state had a total of 1.1 million registered voters – also an all-time high.
But while more than 70 percent of registered voters in New Hampshire have consistently shown up to the polls for presidential races, the midterm numbers are more lackluster. Local moderators anticipate comparatively high midterm participation this year on Nov. 8, based off primary turnout and due to the current political climate boosting voter interest.
In the 2018 midterm, just over 60 percent of voters came to the polls. In 2014, it was just over 50 percent. Even more locally, March elections for town positions, and in towns where ballot vo ting is used, it lags even further than the midterms.
But across the board, while the Monadnock region has remained on par or better than the state when it comes to voters turning out for state and federal elections, turnout for local votes does not compare to the amount of people who come to the polls for their state and federal representatives.
In Wilton, in 2022, only 422, or 16 percent of the voting population came out to elect their local officers in March. That compares to 29 percent who voted in the state primary this year.
New Ipswich Moderator Bob Romeril said those numbers are in line with New Ipswich’s turnout.
In 2020, New Ipswich, which resolves its entire warrant by ballot, rather than Town Meeting, had a turnout of 994 voters in March, compared to the more than 3,100 who turned out for the presidential election that November.
In the 2018 midterm election, New Ipswich had 1,582 voters turn out.
Marshall Buttrick, moderator for Greenville, said those trends bear out in his town, too – highest during presidential years, slightly less but still robust for midterms and “abysmal” for local races.
In the 2020 presidential election in Greenville, Buttrick said there were 1,064 votes, with 1,334 on the checklist, but in the most-recent March elections there were only 152, and 370 at the primaries for the upcoming November election.
Peterborough Moderator Phil Runyon said despite the fact that midterm elections don’t garner as much interest as the four-year presidential races, he expects robust participation this November – perhaps more so than for previous midterm contests.
One indication of this, he said, was comparatively high participation in this year’s primary contests for Peterborough, which had a turnout of about 1,800 people.
“People come out to vote when they think their vote is going to make a difference, on an an economic issue, or a social issue, or a combination of the two,” Runyon said.
In the 2020 presidential election, about 4,455 people, or 70 percent of the registered voters in Peterborough, cast a ballot. That is about 3,000 more voters than in the 2018 midterm, which had about a 60 percent voter turnout.
But, in local elections, Peterborough, which decides some of its town issues by ballot and some by traditional Town Meeting, has topped out at a 27 percent voter turnout for March elections in the past five years.
There is a perception that the higher the office, the more they may be able to make big changes, Runyon said, but midterm turnout statistics show more than half of registered voters still turn out to ensure that they people they want to represent them are in the state and federal legislatures.
Runyon said the current close split between Democrats and Republicans in the state’s House and Senate may be galvanizing New Hampshire voters to be more involved.
Marc Tieger, the moderator in Jaffrey, agreed, saying he hadn’t expected as high of a turnout for the primary that he saw in September. He said he has also seen more widespread campaigning for state races this year, an indication of high interest.
“You can’t make people do things, but the parties have been out, pushing hard. I think the campaign climate I’m seeing, we can expect a good turnout,” Tieger said. “When something affects a person directly, they come out. That’s just human nature.”
In the 2018 midterm elections in Wilton, 67 percent of the voters on the checklist came out to vote — 7 percent over the state average. But in the 2020 election, during the pandemic, there was a huge jump, with a total of 94 percent voters on the checklist voting in the general presidential election. That number was boosted significantly by a request for 780 absentee ballots – a significant portion of the 2,661 registered voters that year.
Romeril said even in a midterm year, there is the also the expectation of dozens of registrants on election day, and said voters should keep in mind that while they can register beforehand to save time, New Hampshire allows same-day registration.
Romeril said it’s up to town election officials to remind voters when and where they can vote, and inform them of their rights when it comes to alternatives like absentee ballot voting, which he said still allows for health concerns as a valid reason.
Absentee ballots can be received from a voter’s individual town clerk as late as 5 p.m. the day before the election, but must be received by 5 p.m. on the day of the election.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.