Even before poll workers had set out the last of the pens and community groups finished setting up for their bake sale, people were already lined up outside of the Keene Recreation Center to cast their votes.

“It’s very exciting; there’s been a great turnout,” said Connie Joyce, moderator for Ward 2. “We had 90 people waiting when we opened the doors.”

About 300 people per hour followed the initial throng through the doors, said Bill Schenck, a poll volunteer and former supervisor of the checklist in Keene.

“Everyone is turning out,” he said. “We’ve even got 5-year-olds coming in with their parents to vote because there’s no school today.”

Even during the “slow” period shortly before noon, a steady stream of voters came through the doors and easily filled up the five tables set up for new voters to fill out paperwork and register.

In Keene’s Ward 4 at Symonds School, lines wrapped around the building shortly after the polls opened at 8 a.m.

“I’ve never seen a line (to vote),” said 63-year-old Mary Ann Hazen of Keene. “We came early, thinking the polls opened at 7. We left for a little while and came back and there was already a line. It seems to be moving quickly, though.”

According to the Keene city clerk’s office, of the 15,634 registered voters, 13,194 voted, or about 84 percent.

But it wasn’t just Keene voters flocking to the polls. In Swanzey, police helped direct traffic in the overflowing parking lot at the Christian Life Fellowship Center, the town’s polling place, as a constant stream of voters filed into the building.

“By 9:45 a.m. we had more than 700 people voting,” said Lori Belletete, who’s been the deputy town clerk for seven years. “It’s definitely more than usual, but not by much. … The presidential ones are always pretty busy anyway. They always bring out more voters than other elections.”

In Jaffrey, tax collector Dawn Osewalt said that of the 4,188 registered voters in town, 2,911 showed up at the polls, 238 new voters registered and 286 voters sent in their ballots early.

Similarly, Marlborough Town Clerk Ellen Orkins reported plenty of ballots were available and lines were at a minimum. More more than 80 percent of registered voters turned out and 109 new voters signed up, she said.



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