Quick take - enthusiasm gap in Gilford - Granite Grok

Quick take – enthusiasm gap in Gilford

Turnout was actually pretty good in my town yesterday, Primary Day here in NH.  There was a contentious issue in this town of 7,400- the purchase of yet another fire truck, to replace an engine that seemed not to get the correct maintenance, at the cost of $500,000.  This was an issue that was voted down during the regular town meeting but the Spenders in town decided not only that a used truck was “just not good enough,” but that they weren’t going to listen to the will of the people, and got a judge to authorize a Special Town Meeting to vote on the issue again – the proverbial “second bite of the apple”.

It lost by 10 votes in reaching a 60% majority – so it is dead and gone until the next regular Town Meeting.  Good.  It may be nice to have the best of everything but there is a cost to be borne – and some in Town have no cares about those who cannot continue to match the taxes for their spending.

At the same time, however, it showed a real soft underbelly for the upcoming November election – at least in my town; there is an enthusiasm gap between the democrats and the Republicans. Here’s a quick chart of the races and a comparison of the turnout:

County County

NH US Exec. State State Register Register of

Guv House Council Senate House of Deeds Probate
# Dem Candidates 3 1 1 1 4 1 1
# Repub Candidates 3 3 2 2 4 1 1
Total Votes – Dem 605 576 470 547 1,682 427 429
Total Votes – Repubs 1,145 1,109 1,065 1,063 2,618 953 933
Gap – amount 540 533 595 516 936 526 504
Gap – percentage 89.26% 92.53% 126.60% 94.33% 55.65% 123.19% 117.48%

 

Let’s see if this is a portent of what may happen in November…and November is coming.

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