Mid afternoon voting turnout in Gilford... - Granite Grok

Mid afternoon voting turnout in Gilford…

NH Votes - I votedWell, at midway through the afternoon, voting is light by many measure of general elections.  However, cast in the light of the 11% estimated Primary Day turnout, it seems that voting locally will exceed that estimate.  There is a contentious issue on the ballot – the Selectmen were very unhappy with the vote of the townfolk earlier this year in overwhelmingly voting against a new fire engine.  So, they persuaded a judge to have a Special Town Meeting so they could have a second bite at the apple.  It’s unclear at the present time if it will pass by the required 2/3rds, but we’ll see.

Now for this, each voter is receiving two ballots – one to say yea or nay to the (unneeded) engine and one for the candidates.  I did get a call from someone who reported:

Went inside and went to go get my ballots.  Was asked “Do you want to vote for the fire truck?”

The inference was As in “hey, if you don’t want a ballot, no worries – just take the Primary ballot”

And thus, nullifying a real vote against spending a 1/ million bucks for an engine that is, as I  said, not really needed.  This is nothing more than elected officials not wanting to wait until the next general election to see how the voters feel.

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