New Hampshire is a political state for obvious reasons, but it is not all about the first-in-the-nation primary. Right now, the presidential race and the COVID-19 pandemic are taking center stage.
Inside City Hall in Manchester, there was a healthy line of folks filling out absentee ballots. More people in the Granite State are voting early than ever before.
Longtime political analyst Scott Spradling of The Spradling Group says there are a couple of reasons why.
"Whether it's because of COVID or because of this election cycle, the bottom line is Granite Staters are participating," Spradling said. "They're already actively casting ballots. With one week to go, we have about 200,000 ballots already cast, which is roughly 20% of those that are going to vote."
It is also more than double the highest number of early voters in past years.
The coronavirus pandemic is definitely a factor in voting early for Nikki Forde.
"I didn't want to wait in any lines and deal with COVID precautions," said Forde. "I wanted to make sure my vote got in early and that it will get processed, so I don't have to worry."
Many who are going to the polls Nov. 3 said this year is particularly important with some, like Amanda Desmarais, going a step further.
"I'm very excited," Desmarais said. "This year, I heard that they really needed poll workers. It was something I had never considered or thought about before, even though I had voted, so I figured, why not?"
Politics
So Desmarais volunteered. However, not everyone shares her enthusiasm. Solomon Sanchez is not sure he’s going to vote.
"This year's race is not really exciting to me," he said. "Trump is not that exciting to me and Biden is, you know, not the most exciting either. So I'm just not super excited like most."
