A Sleepy Concord Election

With just a couple of hours before the polls close in Concord, it’s slow going. However, some competitive ward races and a number of ballot questions may push turnout above the previously dismal 10.9 percent of 2009.

By 11 a.m., Ward 1’s turnout was 108 votes or about two-thirds of what it was for all of 2009 and a quarter of what it was in 2007. In both of those elections, incumbent Councilor ran unopposed.

This year, however, the five-term incumbent was fending off a tough challenge from first-time candidate .

“Like the mayor, I didn’t spend a lot of money,” Blanchard noted, saying she did buy stickers to cover over the words “county commissioner” with “city councilor” on her campaign signs.

Blanchard said she took Czarkowski’s effort seriously though, campaigning aggressively, and talking to voters about all the work she had done for Penacook. She also had to work a bit harder this time because she did not receive the endorsement of the Concord Monitor, something that upset her.

“You have to develop a thick skin in politics ... so you can’t take things personally,” she said. “And I don’t, everyone has a right to their own opinion.”

Czarkowski said he thought they day was going pretty well although he wished he had bought more signs.

“I had one get run over and another one disappear,” he said. “Towards the end, I was running out of them.”

Czarkowski said he enjoyed going door-to-door throughout the ward talking to voters who seemed receptive to his campaign. He said he heard overwhelming support for a grocery store at Exit 17, something Blanchard would not publicly commit to, as well as support for keeping the Penacook Branch Library open.

“I think, doing this again, I’d have a lot better idea of what to expect,” he said. “On Sept. 9, when I filed, I had no clue what was going to happen … running in the future will be a lot easier.”

In Ward 2, two and change hours into voting, only about 60 people had cast ballots, or about a third of the total vote in 2009 and one-sixth of the number in 2007. In the city’s only open city council seat, was facing off against .

Krevotic said turnout was slower than what she expected and there was no morning rush to vote. She wished she had a couple more weeks to campaign because it was not easy to juggle both work and campaign commitments. Krevotic said there just wasn't enough time to talk to all the voters she wanted to talk to.

“I go out and I talk to people and listen to people,” she said. “It’s not good enough for me to leave information and walk away … I’m not comfortable what that. I spent more time talking to people and I’m glad for that.”

However, of those she was able to talk to, Kretovic said she had "good, personal conversations" about what the council should do in the future and about what voters seemed to be looking for in a new councilor.

Herschlag said the turnout was what he was expecting, “steady but slow.” In running, he stuck to his campaign plan and was hoping for the best.

“There’s always 20-20 hindsight,” he said, “and you’d change maybe one thing or two things … I’m pretty comfortable that I accomplished what I did and now I just have to wait and see if I did what I needed to do.”

Over in Ward 3, by 9:30 a.m., 76 votes had been cast or about one-fourth of the number cast in 2009. Both incumbent Councilor and challenger were at the polls, greeting voters. Both said the voting was very slow going.

By lunchtime, Concord School District Charter Commission signs advocating a Vote Yes on 1; Vote No on 2 began to emerge. The signs did not have a payment or group affiliation disclaimer on them although School Board President was seen standing with one of the supporters and overheard openly advocating to voters at the Ward 5 polls that they should vote against Question 2. Ardinger’s husband, , a local attorney, served on the elected Charter Commission that proposed and created the two ballot questions.

Ward 5 turnout at lunchtime was less than half of what it was in 2009, which was a similar situation at both Ward 4 and Ward 7 later in the afternoon.

Concord NH Patch will have election results up as they come in starting at 7 p.m. Tune into Concord TV at 7:30 p.m. for an election night wrap up show with Charlie Russell, Dick Osborne, and Tony Schinella.