Number of absentee ballots could set record

LACONIA — Absentee ballot requests are keeping City Clerk Cheryl Hebert and her staff busy.

With less than a month to go before the election, and as COVID-19 continues to spread, Hebert said Monday her office had already sent out approximately 1,800 absentee ballots.

And the requests keep coming in. Hebert said the office is receiving between 20 and 25 applications for absentee ballots a day.

It’s the same at town and city clerk’s offices across the state, which all told are processing applications at the rate of about 15,000 a week, according to Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan. As of Tuesday morning, 163,974 voters statewide had requested absentee ballots, he said.

The number of absentee ballots requested by Laconia voters is already 64 percent higher than it was in 2016 when there were about 1,100 requests, Hebert said.

Gilford Town Clerk Danielle LaFond said Monday that her office had so far handled 1,173 absentee ballot requests. That is an increase of 53 percent from four years ago when 765 residents asked to vote absentee.

Both Hebert and LaFond said there is no way to predict how many absentee ballots they will ultimately send out, but LaFond said she would not be surprised if the number of requests in Gilford reaches 1,800.

“It definitely could,” she said.

Scanlan said if the number of absentee ballot requests statewide reaches 200,000, that would mean that about 25 percent of the state’s voters could be voting absentee — a record. By comparison, in 2016 about 75,000 absentee ballots were cast statewide, he said.

In Meredith, 950 voters have requested absentee ballots, according to Town Clerk Kerri Parker. In 2016 there were 630 absentee ballots issued, she said.

On Monday, Hebert wondered if President Donald Trump’s contracting the coronavirus and his subsequent hospitalization would result in even more residents opting to vote by absentee ballot.

“I wonder if the president having COVID will change people’s ideas of whether to go to the polls,” she said.

Hebert said the largest number of absentee ballot requests so far have some from Wards 1 and 6, with lesser though sizable number of requests from Ward 2 and 3.

LaFond said he office has seen a noticeable increase in the number of new voters — registrations by people who have recently moved into the town.

And she said she is also seeing signs that the presidential campaign is raising voter interest.

“I had a woman call and say she had just seen the presidential debate (last week) and would like to register to vote,” she said.

Hebert, LaFond, and Parker said they have enough poll workers, and Scanlan, who frequently speaks with town and city clerks via Zoom, said local polling officials are prepared for the election on Nov. 3.