With New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan predicting a statewide voter turnout of 873,357 for Tuesday’s presidential primary, former Bow select board member Eric Anderson is nervous the number of ballots provided to the town may be insufficient.

Anderson has been tracking Bow voter turnout since 1990.

Bow has received 1,400 ballots each for Democrats and Republicans from the state. In 2016, nearly 1,766 ballots were cast in Bow during the Democratic primary between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders (who won with 51% of the votes).

“For the Democrat ballots, that’s probably enough. But for the Republican ballots, I’m not sure. We might need a couple more. I just think there’s going to be a lot of interest in that particular race,” said Anderson.

For Peter Imse, who has served as a moderator in Bow for 26 years, preparations for the big day start at least a month in advance.

“As a voter, everything’s fine, you vote, you leave and it looks like it’s a piece of cake. But there is so much that goes on behind the scenes,” said Imse.

It starts with an email blast from Imse to recruit volunteers for election day. At the same time, he reaches out to town officials to gather information about expectations and potential issues to anticipate at the Bow Community Center on Tuesday, where voting will take place.

The groundwork for election day continues with engaging with the police to ensure they are well-equipped to handle any traffic issues and to ensure the town is prepared in case of fires or other public safety concerns. Even seemingly mundane details, such as ensuring that lunch and dinner are available for poll workers so they do not go hungry, are meticulously arranged.

“One of the good things when you’ve done things for a few years is you work out the kinks,” said Imse.

It’s the same well-oiled process in towns and cities all across New Hampshire.

This year, Bow has seen a slight increase in the number of volunteers, with nearly 40 individuals stepping up. Imse thinks it’s due to the anticipation of a significant turnout from the Democratic side, driven by a push for write-in votes.

Hopkinton too has staffed more volunteers for ballot counting in anticipation of a higher-than-average number of write-in votes.

While Bow’s booth setup begins on Monday afternoon, Hopkinton has a much tighter schedule. Their setup begins Monday evening, ensuring that the polling center, located at the high school gymnasium, doesn’t disrupt the students’ activities more than necessary.

Sarah Persechino, Hopkinton’s moderator, said her four years as a moderator had made her feel more at ease when setting up for elections.

“I’m feeling excited about it. We’ve got a really good crew working on it,” said Persechino. “Everyone in Hopkinton is very committed to making sure that people can cast their ballot easily and efficiently.”

With all of the work that goes into preparing for elections, polling places always turn into a space for community interaction.

“Most of the time people are talking to their neighbors, which is great. It’s always fun to have that little bit of interaction with your neighbors,” said Persechino. “We have had to remind people in the last couple of years that while we’re very excited to see your friends, neighbors, family, some of them are working as ballot clerks.”