As absentee ballots arrive in New Hampshire and Vermont and the Nov. 3 election draws closer, there's a lot of information (and some misinformation) floating around out there. So Daybreak's pulled together some resources to help you understand your options. Under each state heading, the first link is to a table of town-by-town info, with specifics for each town in the Upper Valley.
One quick note: This is still a work in progress. If the boxes for your town in the town-by-town guides are blank, that's because the office hasn't responded yet to our requests for information. Please feel free to let them know it would be helpful — we'll be filling them in as info comes in. (Much gratitude to my daughter, Sonya, for her research help.)
New Hampshire:
**Town by town information for NH towns in the Upper Valley.** This includes town clerk contact info, plus: how to request an absentee ballot; dropbox info (in NH, absentee ballots cannot just be put in a dropbox willy-nilly, but a few towns have made arrangements); office hours; voting place and hours for Nov. 3; and whether elections administrators still need volunteers.
State election voting info: NHPR has put together **a complete guide to voting basics,** including links for requesting absentee ballots from the Secretary of State's office and a lot of other very useful information. The VN's page is equally helpful.
If you've requested or sent an absentee ballot, the Secretary of State's office has a page where you can check on its status.
Three NH things you should know:
- If you don't intend to go to the polls Nov. 3 and haven't yet applied for an absentee ballot, there are plenty of ways to do so, both electronically and through the mails. If you plan to use the mails, leave yourself a lot of time: The official deadline to request a ballot is Nov. 2, the day before Election Day, and you'll see that date on a lot of generic info sites out there (including Facebook), but you know darn well that if you're planning to use the mails, that's way too late. Every town clerk's office in NH will be open on Monday, Nov. 2 for at least two hours (probably 3-5 pm, but check your clerk for specifics) to process in-person absentee-ballot requests and accept filled-in ballots.
- If you're voting absentee, NH requires your ballot to arrive at the town clerk's office by 5 pm on Nov. 3. So if you're planning to mail it, take that into account: The Secretary of State's office recommends mailing by Oct. 20. Note, however, that you can also drop an absentee ballot off on Election Day itself before 5 pm.
- If you want your absentee ballot counted, do it properly! Kristin Kennison, the Lebanon City Clerk, says, "The top three reasons that absentee ballots are not counted on Election Day are because: voters forget to sign their affidavit envelope; do not include their affidavit envelope; or they do not complete voter registration forms that were sent to them (these are for new voters only - not all absentee voters will receive documents with their ballots). The affidavit envelope is the envelope that has wording and asks for the voter's signature." There's more at the NHPR page at the link above, under "I heard pollworkers can reject my absentee ballot if I made a mistake. Is that true?"
Vermont:
**Town by town information for VT towns in the Upper Valley.** This includes town clerk contact info, plus: dropbox info and instructions; office hours; voting place and hours for Nov. 3; and whether elections administrators still need volunteers.
If you haven't registered to vote yet, Seven Days has a great little infographic to help you out.
And VTDigger has a comprehensive guide on how to vote.
The Secretary of State's office has both **an absentee ballot FAQ guide** and a page for checking registration and ballot status.
Three VT things you should know:
- In Vermont, every eligible voter who registered before Sept. 3 has been mailed an absentee ballot by the Secretary of State's office. If you registered after that, you'll get one from your town clerk. If you don't receive a ballot by Wednesday, Oct. 7, you should get in touch with your town clerk (info at the town-by-town link above).
- If you opt to vote in person on Nov. 3, you should bring that unvoted ballot and its paperwork to the polls with you—in many towns, you'll use that ballot to vote. If you don't have it, before you vote you'll be asked to sign an affidavit attesting that you did not vote absentee.