Voter turnout as expected during Tuesday primary

LACONIA — Traffic was slow at the polls Tuesday during the municipal primary election.

While only wards 1 and 2 had contested primary races for city councilors, voters in every ward made their choices for mayor. 

Ward 1 Councilor Bruce Cheney, state Rep. Mike Bordes (R-Laconia) and Joseph Hart were in competition for the mayor’s seat, previously held by Andrew Hosmer and currently occupied in the interim by state Rep. Charlie St. Clair (D-Laconia) through the expiration of Hosmer’s term in January. 

Turnout for the primary elections is anticipated to be at somewhere between 10% and 15%.

Around 9 a.m. at the Ward 2 poll at St. Andre Bessette Parish on Gilford Avenue, there were few voters, but numerous politicians electioneering in the parking lot — Ward 2 Councilor Bob Soucy was there campaigning for reelection, as were challengers Nicole Arsenault and Gregg Hough.

At Ward 3, located inside Laconia Middle School, Assistant Ward Moderator Peggy Selig stood next to an electronic ballot counting machine, one of the new ones city staff purchased ahead of the primary election. She said the day had been quiet so far, at around 9:30 a.m. 

Outside the entryway into the middle school, St. Clair held a sign in support of Cheney’s bid for mayor, and voters slowly filed into and then out of the multipurpose room.

They’d received 45 in-person votes by 10 a.m., and 19 absentee ballots from the county nursing home by 11 a.m.

“Any election that’s going to bring calm and cooperation,” Katherine Plummer, a Ward 3 voter, said when asked what she was looking for in a mayor. “There’s so many things going on that really need attention.”

Plummer noted she’s thinking about housing in the city, transparency in local government and responsible fiscal budgeting, and hopes the elected mayor will be reasonable and able to use their influence effectively.

Ward 3 voters Deb and Phil Langton agreed homelessness is a key issue in the city.

“That’s the big issue, I think,” Deb Langton said regarding homelessness, and said the new council will need to pay attention to the development of the State School property on Parade Road and low testing scores at the city’s middle school.

“I feel indifferent,” she said regarding the candidates on the ballot. “Somebody that’s fresh, kind of tired of the same-old.”

For Ward 3 voter Bob Hemeon, integrity is the recipe for a good mayor. 

“Straight forward and honest,” Hemeon said. “I feel one of [the candidates] is.

“We have to do what we should be doing all the time — all the citizens should be questioning,” he said, regarding democracy more broadly. “The citizens have to find out what the issues are, and what to do about them.”

At the Ward 4 polls at New Covenant Church, they’d received 69 ballots by 11:45 a.m. There weren’t any voters there. About an hour later, at the Ward 6 polls at Leavitt Park on Elm Street, poll workers had taken 122 voters, but there weren’t any voters there currently, either.

The top two vote-getters in each of the three primaries will move on to the Municipal Election on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Polls were open until 6 p.m. Tuesday, and results were not available by press time.

In Ward 5 at Woodland Heights Elementary School, they’d received 73 votes by noon. For voter Nick Callaghan, objectivity is the key trait to a good mayor. 

“Obviously look for someone who is objective on the issues — they have to find a balance between different ideas of where the city is going to go,” Callaghan said. 

Making sure the schools are running well, the streets are taken care of and infrastructure is cared for costs money but is necessary, in Callaghan’s view. 

“I’m not sure,” he said when asked if he feels optimistic about the future of the city council. “Partly because they’re going to have to act for the citizens.”

He feels the council has generally done “an amazing job” in running the city, and Laconia has a lot of residents who eagerly volunteer their time and help. Overall, the city is a great place to live, he said, but if the people writ-large disagree with him regarding his view that money needs to be raised and spent in order to maintain a high quality of life for the city’s residents, he would end up disappointed at the end of the election, he said. 

“I will personally not feel as secure in the city.”