Tens of thousands of votes are already in the hands of city and town clerks across New Hampshire as people take advantage of expanded absentee voting, but elections officials said anyone still holding onto an absentee ballot should get it in now.>> Download the free WMUR appAt town halls across the state, absentee ballots are piling up ahead of next week's presidential election."The trend has been 15,000, plus or minus, absentee ballot requests every week since the primary election," said Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan. "If that trend continues, it will put us on par with the primary election, where just under 30% of the voters voted by absentee ballot and just over 70% voted in person at the polls."In Hopkinton, the foliage may be just past peak, but Jean Lightfoot, supervisor of the voter checklist, said interest in the election is still going strong."We generally, in a general election, have about 80% turnout," she said. "Who knows if we'll even go higher this year."Lightfoot and other local officials have been meeting since the summer to plan for a closely watched vote amid the COVID-19 pandemic."We went through the whole March situation trying to do a town meeting and a school meeting," she said. "We finally got our school meeting and town meeting done in August as a drive-thru, but I think we've learned a lot from that, and we know what we can do."State election officials said anyone planning to mail in an absentee ballot should do it now."If a voter has an absentee ballot, they should vote on it," Scanlan said. "If they want to send it back through the postal service, they should get it in the mail today or tomorrow to make sure that it gets to the town clerk on time."Anyone worried about the mail getting delivered on time can instead bring it directly to city or town hall."The other option is they can hand deliver it to the clerk or they can give it to a delivery agent, which is defined as an extended family member or the administrator of a nursing home or an elder care facility, and have those people deliver it in person," Scanlan said.
Tens of thousands of votes are already in the hands of city and town clerks across New Hampshire as people take advantage of expanded absentee voting, but elections officials said anyone still holding onto an absentee ballot should get it in now.
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At town halls across the state, absentee ballots are piling up ahead of next week's presidential election.
"The trend has been 15,000, plus or minus, absentee ballot requests every week since the primary election," said Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan. "If that trend continues, it will put us on par with the primary election, where just under 30% of the voters voted by absentee ballot and just over 70% voted in person at the polls."
In Hopkinton, the foliage may be just past peak, but Jean Lightfoot, supervisor of the voter checklist, said interest in the election is still going strong.
"We generally, in a general election, have about 80% turnout," she said. "Who knows if we'll even go higher this year."
Lightfoot and other local officials have been meeting since the summer to plan for a closely watched vote amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We went through the whole March situation trying to do a town meeting and a school meeting," she said. "We finally got our school meeting and town meeting done in August as a drive-thru, but I think we've learned a lot from that, and we know what we can do."
State election officials said anyone planning to mail in an absentee ballot should do it now.
"If a voter has an absentee ballot, they should vote on it," Scanlan said. "If they want to send it back through the postal service, they should get it in the mail today or tomorrow to make sure that it gets to the town clerk on time."
Anyone worried about the mail getting delivered on time can instead bring it directly to city or town hall.
"The other option is they can hand deliver it to the clerk or they can give it to a delivery agent, which is defined as an extended family member or the administrator of a nursing home or an elder care facility, and have those people deliver it in person," Scanlan said.
October 27, 2020 at 05:45AM
https://www.wmur.com/article/time-to-send-in-absentee-ballots-is-now-nh-election-officials-say/34486288
Time to send in absentee ballots is now, NH election officials say - WMUR Manchester
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