Thousands of election officials from the state’s tiniest villages to its largest cities put forth “extraordinary efforts” last Tuesday, prompting Attorney General Gordon MacDonald to declare a successful election day throughout New Hampshire.
The AG’s General Election Day Operations center oversaw a team of “more than 100 attorneys and investigators,” including staff members from MacDonald’s office and the office of Secretary of State Bill Gardner, along with assistance from other state agencies, according to the report MacDonald issued Monday.
Inspectors were deployed across the state throughout the day, covering 305 of the state’s 307 polling places, according to the report. Each inspector completed a detailed checklist and “worked with local election officials to resolve any issues that may have been identified,” the report states.
MacDonald said his office’s Election Hotline received roughly 275 calls throughout the day. “Each call was assigned to an attorney for resolution of the issue identified. The majority of issues were resolved on Tuesday by working directly with local election officials,” according to the report.
The Attorney General’s General Election Day Operations were led by assistant Attorney General Nicholas Chong Yen, Chief Investigator Richard Tracy and Paralegal Jill Tekin of the Election Law Unit as well as Associate Attorney General Anne Edwards.
Participating agencies included:
The Commission for Human Rights, the Public Utilities Commission, the Department of Business and Economic Affairs, the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification, the Department of Environmental Resources, and the Banking Department. The Department of Safety, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the Emergency Operations Center and the Joint Information Center provided support throughout the day. The office also worked closely with Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies including the New Hampshire State Police.
In comparison, inspectors in the 2018 general election visited 302 of the state’s 309 polling places, and 185 unique calls were received by the AG’s office.
In 2016, election inspectors visited roughly 225 of the state’s polling places, according to the report.
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