With primary election Tuesday, clerks’ offices will accept absentee ballots on Labor Day

LACONIA — You may have Labor Day off, but your town or city clerk will not.

That is because state law requires that clerks’ offices be open the day before any primary or general election in order to receive absentee ballots.

Next Tuesday is the state’s primary election and so, despite Monday’s holiday, town and city clerks’ offices will be open from 3 to 5 p.m. During that time people who are voting absentee will be able to drop off their ballots in time to have them counted the following day.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has caused the requests for absentee ballots to skyrocket.

The Laconia City Clerk’s Office had received 914 requests for primary absentee ballots, compared to 169 requests for the primary in 2016, according to City Clerk Cheryl Hebert. Eighty percent — or 734 — of the ballots had been returned as of Friday morning, Hebert said.

The increase in other area towns is similar.

In Gilford, Town Clerk Danielle LaFond said her office had received 573 requests for absentee ballots for Tuesday’s election, 5 times as many as in 2016, when there were 112 requests. Belmont Town Clerk Cynthia DeRoy said the increase percentage wise is even greater: 298 requests compared to 33 requests four years ago. In Meredith, Town Clerk Kerri Parker said that 573 voters had requested absentee ballots, compared to 88 in 2016.

Polls will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in all four communities.

In Laconia, Ward 1 voters will vote at the Beane Conference Center on Blueberry Lane, Ward 2 at St. Andre Bessette Parish Hall on Gilford Avenue, Ward 3 at Laconia Middle School, Ward 4 and Memorial Park, Ward 5 at Woodland Heights School, and Ward 6 at Leavitt Park Clubhouse.

Gilford voters vote at the Gilford Youth Center on Potter Hill Road, while Belmont voters will cast their ballots at Belmont High School, and Meredith voters at the Meredith Community Center.

Communities are encouraging voters who come to the polls to wear face masks. But Belmont is requiring voters and poll workers to have masks on inside the polling place. Voters who refuse to wear masks will be treated as absentee voters and will mark their ballots in a designated area outside the high school, DeRoy said.