After the re-counts took place in Nashua and the GOP candidates each added approx 20+ votes. This was due to the tabulators not reading ballots with check marks, stars, or x’s, that people put down instead of filling in the ovals.
So in this instance, the tabulators worked as they should have, and it was the voters that let us down. The large number of undervotes (1221) was because people did not enter all the votes they could have.
About 75 ballots had no votes for any state reps at all, and many just had a vote for one candidate instead of three.
Believe it or not, before this election, Nashua had about the same number of registered DEMS vs. REPUBLICANS.
The straight vote ballots, all GOP or all DEM, came out 1651 DEM to 1310 GOP. That 341 DEM vs. GOP voter differential was the major reason the GOP side lost in Nashua.
The DEMs came out to vote (there were a lot of same-day registrations as well), with many of the GOPers apparently staying home, which is pretty incredible considering the current state of affairs.
Losing sucks, but this info will prove useful to me going forward if I decide to run for the NH House again in 2024.
IMO The GOP needs to:
1. Do a better job of getting out the vote.
2. Inform voters that they should be filling out the entire ballot and not leaving sections blank or voting for just one or two candidates when the total number you could pick it three.
As a side note, the Nashua teachers union and/or school administration decided to have training meetings with the teachers of each school on election day.
The teachers being there and taking up those 30+ parking spots all day did have a suppression effect on voting. People couldn’t find a place to park, so they circled a few times and then left w/o voting.
The teachers could have and should have met at either of the high schools as they were not used as polling places.
I find it hard to believe that he wasn’t done purposefully to frustrate people and keep them away from the polls.
Note: the Nashua registered voter data is from July and does not take into account any new registrations after that.