Tuesday was a record day for democracy in New Hampshire
Nov. 7—New Hampshire obliterated its Election Day turnout record Tuesday, besting the previous mark by more than 20,000 ballots.
With 834,651 ballots cast, the state easily eclipsed its previous high of 814,499 in 2020.
Nearly 100,000 people voted by absentee ballot, down from more than 260,000 in the COVID year of 2020. In-person voting and for same-day registration vastly outperformed the turnout four years ago, state officials said.
Last week, Secretary of State David Scanlan predicted 824,000 voters would submit ballots. The official turnout percentage won't be released until the new voter registration numbers are finalized. In the previous four presidential elections, New Hampshire has ranked third in the U.S. in voter turnout, hitting a high of 72.2% in 2020.
The Washington Post estimated a modern-era record of 74.8% turnout among New Hampshire's voting age population.
"Great job, New Hampshire. Once again, the state's highly engaged electorate turned out in record numbers," Scanlan said via email. "We continue to maintain one of the greatest voter participation rates in the country during presidential elections."
University of New Hampshire politics Professor Dante Scala summed it up with two words: Donald Trump.
"Back when I was a college student in the 1980s, I had a professor who would discuss why turnout was so low in the United States, and what could be done to improve it," Scala said. "Who knew the answer would turn out to be: Donald Trump."
Whether voters chose Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, turnout soared here and across the country. As of Thursday evening, more than 143 million people had cast ballots nationwide in the presidential race, according to the Associated Press. Just under 160 million people voted in the U.S. in 2020.
There are still many millions of votes to be counted, such as in California, where only 55% has been processed. Turnout nationwide is estimated at 65%, down a little so far from 2020, which boasted the greatest turnout in 112 years.
In New Hampshire, several communities still had long lines of people waiting to vote after the polls' official closing time. If they were in line before polls closed, they were allowed to vote.
In Bedford, for example, there were still 200 voters inside Bedford High School when the polls closed and people were still taking advantage of the state's same-day registration as 9 p.m. approached, Town Moderator Henry Veilleux said.
Bedford had more than 3,200 absentee ballots cast and a little more than 900 same-day registrants, he said.
Veilleux said the peak hours of voting shifted in 2024. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a higher percentage of Bedford voters went to the polls before or after work. This time, the peak was from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., as many more voters in the bedroom community now have work-from-home or hybrid jobs, he said.
Hanover continued its streak as the state's most Democratic community with 85% of voters favoring Harris in the presidential race. By percentage, Windsor voters were the biggest fans of Trump, with more than 77% of voters favoring the former president.
More voters came out in all 10 counties. Belknap County saw the biggest increase with 5.8% more ballots cast than four years ago.
Finally, more than 92,000 people who voted for president here did not vote for governor. And the number of undervotes and overvotes (people who made mistakes on the number of candidates they could select for each contest) were much higher for the governor's race than the presidential race (14,864 to 4,753).
Voters appeared to be much more careful with following the rules when voting for president than they are voting for anything down the ballot.
Maybe the presidential race was just that much more important in New Hampshire.
