Amid all the important items you’re keeping in mind as you vote today, things like the future of democracy in America, there are some not-quite-as-important items to also consider. Here are a few

Voting machines

If your polling place uses a ballot-counting machine, give it a loving pat because you might never see it again.

New Hampshire has finally chosen successors to the aging AccuVote machines that have been part of our elections since before today’s college students were born. It’s possible that some of the new units may be rolled out by March 12, the annual town meeting voting day, although state certification may not be completed by that deadline. 

 Two models have been given the thumbs-up from the state Ballot Law Commission, both of which scan paper ballots and tally the results, just as the AccuVote machines do. It’s up to each community to decide which, if either, to buy.

Political garb is now OK

It is still illegal to bring campaign materials like signs or “Vote for XYZ” buttons into the polling place, and the moderator has the final say on where they can be displayed outside.

But it is no longer illegal to wear campaign materials such as hats or shirts featuring slogans or candidate names. The legislature has removed that part of the restriction, possibly prodded by an incident in 2020 when a primary voter removed her slogan-carrying shirt and then proceeded to vote even though she was wearing nothing underneath.

“She took it off so fast, no one had time to react. So the whole place just went, ‘Woah,’ and she walked away, and I let her vote,” then-moderator Paul Scafidi told the Portsmouth Herald at the time.

‘Ballot selfies’ and other photos are (mostly) fine

Photos, videos and audio recordings are allowed inside the polling place. The moderator has discretion about where people taking pictures or recordings can stand, partly to make sure that no picture is taken of a completed ballot carried by a voter from the voting booth to the ballot clerk.

Speaking of pictures, “ballot selfies” are OK: You can put a photo of your own marked ballot online without incurring any legal wrath.

New ‘I VOTED’ stickers

Being handed a cute sticker brings out the inner fourth-grader in us all, and the “I Voted” stickers you receive on the way out of the polls will have an even stronger effect this year.  

The formal flag and star motifs of past stickers have been replaced with drawings from three fourth-graders who won a design contest. One has a moose, one has the Old Man of the Mountain, and one has the state personified as a happy angler catching their dinner.

Wear yours with pride!