Turnout Mixed in Concord

With a little less than four hours to vote in Concord, turnout numbers are mixed across the city. But competitive city ward and at-large races appear to be boosting numbers across the city.

Candidates were out and about last night and early this morning in an effort for one last push for support in the most competitive municipal election in recent memory: Half the city’s 10 wards have multiple candidates, the mayor and at-large races are a bit on the feisty side, and there is one competitive school board district race on the east side. 

2013 vs. 2011

At around 10 a.m. in Penacook’s Ward 1 polling location, a little more than 100 voters, about 30 percent of the number of people who voted two years ago, had cast ballots.

In that race, incumbent Councilor Liz Blanchard squeaked out a 17 vote win against Adam Czarkowski.

Czarkowski is giving it a second try, and both he and Brent Todd, another candidate, said the morning was pretty fluid. A third Ward 1 candidate, Cassandra Rasmussen, was also at the polls early in the morning, along with Merrimack County Sheriff Scott Hilliard, who was stumping for Amanda Grady Sexton, an at-large candidate.

Over in Ward 3, about 40 percent of the people who voted in 2011 had turned out before 11 a.m. The voting ward, the Beaver Meadow Golf Course, has a three-way ward race featuring incumbent Jan McClure facing off against Ward 2 Councilor Jennifer Kretovic, who was redistricted into the ward, and businessman Rick Cibotti. Fred Keach, the Ward 10 candidate who decided to run at-large this year, was also seen greeting voters outside the golf course. 

Down at Ward 2, 114 people had voted by 11 a.m., or about 35 percent of the people who voted in 2011. In that race, a literal battle of the watchdogs – two candidates who have made oversight of the city government a cornerstone of their campaigns – Allan Herschlag, who missed winning by 11 votes two years ago against Kretovic, is facing Tim Bauman.

At the polls, Bauman had support from Free State Project members, state Rep. Mark Warden, R-Goffstown, and Irena Goddard, a former council and school board candidate in her own right. Herschlag also had support at the polls, including his wife Cathy, state Rep. Rick Watrous, D-Concord, and a firefighter.

Just before lunch, about 166 people had voted in Ward 4, which featured another three-way race for an open seat.

Incumbent at-large City Councilor Michael DelloIacono, who decided to run for the ward seat instead of at-large, is vying for the seat along with Byron Champlin and Kevin “No Tank” Bloom, an opponent of the Bearcat, who was at the polls in the morning but left by midday. At 11:30 a.m., those 166 votes represented about 42 percent of the people who cast ballots in 2011 had voted.

Rounding out the west side polling locations, 80 people had voted in Ward 6, while 231 had voted in Ward 5, and 233 people in Ward 7, or about 40 percent of the turnout from 2011 in all three of the wards.

While Concord Firefighters were seen at all the polling locations backing a couple of ward candidates as well as Bouley, Grady Sexton, and Keach, things were a bit busier on the east side.

At Ward 9, 172 people had voted around noon, or 64 percent of the turnout of 2011, and just before 1 p.m., Ward 10 had 261 votes, according to a post by a voter on Twitter (46 percent of 2011’s turnout, in what is historically the busiest city ward).

In Ward 8, another ward with a competitive race, 185 votes were cast at 1:30 p.m. However, a poll checker noted that absentee ballots had not been scanned yet and there was a stack of them. Only 281 votes were cast in 2011, meaning that turnout should be much higher this year.

Tara Reardon, a former councilor, was holding a sign for her husband, Bouley, along with Dennis Soucy and Gail Matson, two challengers of incumbent Ward 8 Councilor Dick Patten, who voted by absentee ballot.

Grady Sexton also stopped by with supporters to hand out Panera sandwiches to poll workers. Despite running a competent race and spending more money than any other candidate this cycle, she was still a bit concerned about whether she would be able to pull off a win, especially considering the turnout. 

Concord City Clerk Janice Bonenfant said that things were going very smoothly this year, with no reported problems at the polls.

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