Gilford poll workers prepare for 'a long day, but a fun day'

GILFORD — The days are long, the work can be tedious, and the pay is practically nonexistent. But for people who take civic duty to heart, there’s nothing they’d rather do on Election Day than work at a polling place and help their neighbors exercise their right to vote.

New Hampshire's presidential primary election might not be until Tuesday, but poll workers around the state have already begun their preparations, including a routine test of the machines that count ballots.

In Gilford, a test occurred at Town Hall on Tuesday, when Town Clerk Danielle LaFond, Moderator Sandra McGonagle, Assistant Moderator Larry Routhier and Ken Sterner, ballot clerk, gathered to make sure the town’s voting machines were still up to the task.

With same-day registration, there will likely be around 6,000 registered voters in Gilford on Tuesday, and LaFond and McGonagle said they expect about 2,000 of those to cast a vote.

To prepare, LaFond filled out 50 test ballots, including selections for each of the possible candidates, as well as ballots with write-ins and at least one ballot filled out incorrectly, with more than one choice selected. Each of those ballots were run through the machines four times — right-side up and up-side down, then forward and backward — and the machine’s count was then compared to LaFond’s spreadsheet that recorded how the ballots were filled out.

The voting machines accept and record ballots simultaneously. If the ballot is readable by the machine, it drops it into one container, kept secure in its interior. If the ballot is incorrectly filled out, or it has a write-in, the ballot is dropped into a second container so election workers can look at the ballot with human eyes to try and discern if the voter had a clear intent for their vote.

The pre-election voting is the easy part. Next comes the big show on Tuesday. Polls will be open for 12 hours — 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. — but it will be even longer for the poll workers. They will get to the polls early to get everything set up, McGonagle will present the voting machine to a voter to show that it doesn’t have any pre-loaded or pre-counted ballots, then the polls will be opened.

After the polls close, the workers begin the process of counting the write-ins and the ballots the machine couldn’t read.

McGonagle has been town moderator for roughly 15 years, and Routhier has been her assistant for about the same amount of time. Sterner is the newcomer, joining the effort in 2020. All said that despite some of the animosity toward election workers in recent years, they’ve seen nothing of the sort in Gilford.

“We’re a happy little town,” Sterner said.

What keeps them invested in the process?

McGonagle served on the selectboard for nine years, then offered herself as moderator after the retirement of her predecessor Peter Millham.

“It just seemed like a good fit, helping people understand the process of elections,” McGonagle said, adding that her favorite part is when middle school students visit, and she can show them how they will soon be eligible to participate in self-governance.

Routhier and Sterner said they joined because McGonagle asked them to.

“I was recruited,” Sterner said. “It seemed like a nice thing to do.”

For LaFond, it’s part of her job description as town clerk, though she said there’s personal sentiment, too. “It is my honor” to help run elections, she said. “It can be a long day, but it’s a fun day.”