election, whether Municipal or State, is sworn in.
4, If the Mayor's Nominee is not confirmed, a new vacancy is declared, and the process will
be repeated until a Nominee is confirmed by the Board of Aldermen.
This process solves all of the concerns about the current process of Special Election, expresses
the urgency to have the Boards fully staffed, and minimizes the concern about cronyism. There is
no cost to the city for a special election; a replacement on the City Board could be in place in 30-
60 days, and duly elected representatives of the City are affirming any appointment being made
by the specific Board or the Mayor.
Other Important Local Election Considerations.
That said, if the city is going to make a change to the City Charter involving elections, please
combine it with other needed changes.
Election Closing Time.
Nashua is, I believe, the only city in New Hampshire that closes the polls at 8 p.m. The time that
WMUR and other state media "advertise" as the time of the poll closing is 7 p.m. Further, on
Election Day, WMUR and other media begin reporting election results while Nashua's polls
continue to be open. Nashua needs to get in line with the rest of the cities in the State and close
out polls at 7 p.m.
As Moderator for almost 6 years, I have been documenting the hour by hour traffic in my Ward.
I have observed that over the past 4 years, the traffic between 7 and 8 pm has dwindled
considerably. In last November's midterm election, the number of voters in the last hour fell from
an all day average of just over 200 an hour to about 50 voters in the last hour. (Getting the exact
number from the midterm are difficult because the election involved 2 ballots for each voter and
100s of absentee voters.)
At last week's election, we fell from an hourly average of just over 33 voters an hour to just 13
voters. I have been observing this trend since at least the Presidential Primary in 2016.
The City Clerk has informed me that the Election times are set by the Board of. Aldermen, not
in the Charter. Therefore, I recommend the closing time should be changed to 7 p.m.
Nomination of Ward Election Officers.
I would like the City to re-consider a previous Charter Amendment I proposed concerning the
Ward Election Officers that was narrowly rejected by voters after an editorial in the Telegraph
that misrepresented the proposal.
As the City is organized, the Moderators, Clerks, and Selectmen in each Ward are, in realty,
nothing but contract employees of the City Clerk's office. They have no role or authority other
that being "elected" officials of the city authorized to run the polling places on election days.
