Council sets polling hours for municipal elections

LACONIA — The City Council on Monday set the polling hours for the municipal primary and general election as 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., two hours shorter than polling times for state elections, which are typically 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The primary will be held on Sept. 10 and the general will be on Nov. 12.

Councilor Henry Lipman, who works in Concord as New Hampshire Medicaid director, observed that the shorter hours can make it harder for working people to get to the polls.

“For people who work out of town, 8 a.m., you can’t do it, and 6 o’clock you can’t make it back in time,” he said, although he ended up voting for the 8 to 6 hours.

City Clerk Cheryl Hebert provided her rationale for the shorter hours.

“Less people come and it’s not a huge turnout for municipal elections,” she said.

The city last held a municipal primary on Sept. 12, 2017. Polling hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. were set, but those were changed to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. after a reporter asked if the state-mandated longer hours were required because there was also a special election for a New Hampshire representative on that day in Laconia and Belmont.

Councilor Mark Haynes, who was in that municipal primary, is also the moderator for Ward 4 in Laconia and supports the shorter hours.

“In Ward 4, we have an older population,” he said. “We see a few people who are going to work at 8:30 or 8, but there’s a long void until 10 or 10:30. We also have a lunch box crowd, but after 5 or 5:30, it just dies.”

The 8 to 6 polling hours are set under Laconia city ordinance, but the council has the ability to amend the ordinance to make a change. Voters can also cast an absentee ballot.

Liz Tentarelli, president of the League of Women Voters in New Hampshire, says longer hours encourage more people to vote.

“There are cases where people don’t participate in the election because of the hours,” she said. “When polling hours are short, as they are for municipal elections, some polling places don’t open early enough for people to get there before work and then anything can happen to prevent them from getting there after work.”

But she also said there just isn’t as much interest in municipal elections as there are for state or national races. 

Even though local political decisions can have major impact on local residents, voter turnout rates for Laconia municipal elections typically range from 15 percent to 20 percent.

When Haynes was running in the primary for the Ward 4 City Council seat, he tied for second place with Breanna Henderson in a race where the top two finishers advanced to the general election. They each received 80 votes. Brenda Baer, the incumbent, received 130 votes.

A roll of the dice was set as the tie-breaker. Haynes won the roll and then beat Baer in the general.