Laura Magzis, the lone sign-holder outside the Beaver Meadow Elementary polling station at lunchtime Tuesday, was not pleased that President Joe Biden chose not to participate in the New Hampshire primary.

“I think it’s a mistake. And it seems a little churlish,” Magzis said. “But I think it’s important to look at the big picture — and in the big picture, that’s minor.”

The word unprecedented can be used to describe a lot of things about the 2024 New Hampshire presidential primary — that the incumbent did not appear on his party’s ballot here was certainly one of them. The write-in Biden effort — an unsanctioned campaign working to ensure that Biden will win New Hampshire’s renegade Democratic primary — had sign holders like Magzis volunteering at polling stations across the state.

Among Democrats in Concord, the effort appeared to win wide support: regardless of how they felt about the president snubbing their state, they were resolved that he should come out of its election looking secure.

Preventing another Trump presidency was top-of-mind for Suzanne Ellinwood while voting at Christa McAuliffe School. She felt the best way to do that was to maintain a united front.

“It’s disappointing that the Democratic Party made the decision to put South Carolina in front of us. We still have to write in the president,” said Ellinwood, 62.

While defeating Trump is a priority, changing her party registration to support his Republican rival Nikki Haley was never on the table.

“It just seems cheap... I shouldn’t have to do that,” Ellinwood said. “I don’t want Haley   to be president either.”

While she considered Congressman Dean Phillips, Ellinwood said party unity was crucial to setting Democrats up for success in November.

“I think that splitting the vote just hands Donald Trump the presidency.”

A few blocks away at the Green Street Community Center, Josh Kirn also voted for Biden despite feeling let down by his decision not to campaign in New Hampshire.

“What do I think about that?” Kirn, 52, responded when asked about the party spat that led to the write-in campaign. “Nothing you could print in the paper.”

 Kirn sees Biden as the strongest option among Democrats on or off the ballot — which, he admitted, may not be a good thing, saying that the party’s lack of a formidable new guard is “an existential crisis.” But while Biden is “not necessarily” his ideal candidate, Kirn defended the president’s record of passing infrastructure funding and steadying the economy.

“He is the best possible person at the moment, who has done an amazing job over the last four years of pulling things together from where they were,” Kirn said.

In contrast to speculation that refusing to campaign in New Hampshire could cost Biden here, many of those who did not support him said his absence had little to do with their choice.

Esther Hayward, 80, is a registered Democrat who said she often takes advantage of the write-in line. This election was no different, but she didn’t put down Biden’s name.

While Hayward said it was wrong for Biden to shun the primary, it was his age that made her look elsewhere.

“I wouldn’t have run at my age,” Hayward said.

Hayward said she would definitely support Biden if he faced off against Trump in November. But if it were Haley, she’d go the other way.

“I like a lot of her ideas,” said Hayward, noting that she is unafraid to vote for Republicans. “And it’s time. It’s time for a woman.”

Rebecca Wolfe, a 32-year-old Democrat from Ward 7 whose three children joined her, said she is “neutral” about both Biden and the write-in campaign. Her vote for Marianne Williamson was purely a policy- and values-based decision, she said.

For its organizers, the write-in campaign is, in a way, an effort to save Biden and the DNC from themselves: he may be choosing not to run here and the party may deem New Hampshire’s primary “meaningless,” but they’ve expressed concern that a loss for him here could be embarrassing, if not substantive long-term. New Hampshire Democrats have warned that dissing a purple state constituency might hurt Biden in November when even the state’s four electoral college votes could be decisive.

That warning may be overstated. The few Concord Democrats who said they held Biden’s absence against him today – like Cathy and Dennis Mayo – will still back him in November.

“He should’ve come to at least campaign and tell us the things he’s done and accomplished and why we should still vote for him,” Cathy Mayo said. “Because he didn’t, we decided to go with Dean Phillips.”

Overall, though, the Mayos approve of Biden’s record, and they said they will support him in any general election matchup.

“He’s very capable. Because he’s older, he knows the whole routine,” Cathy Mayo said. “And he’s the president.”