Heavy turnout in N.H.'s second largest city

Lines are out the door at one voting place in Nashua, and ballots are running low.

Published January 9, 2008 12:00AM (EST)

NASHUA, N.H. -- Less than two hours before polls closed, there was a line out the door at Nashua's Ward 2 -- to register. Officials expect more than 10 percent of the votes cast here to be those of first-time voters. "Normally, there's only one registrar" for elections, said Nashua selectman Henry Klementowicz. "There's three tonight." The city still wasn't processing them fast enough to keep the wait down.

This polling place was averaging over 200 votes per hour all day, with a brief lull around 1 p.m., and steady turnout from about 4:30 on. Of the 2,800 or so ballots cast by early evening, nearly two-thirds were Democratic, Klementowicz said. By 6:30, there were only a couple of hundred Democratic ballots left, and only about 500 Republican ones. The city should make it to 8 p.m. without running out, but Klementowicz wasn't 100 percent sure. "It's close," he said.


By Mike Madden

Mike Madden is Salon's Washington correspondent. A complete listing of his articles is here. Follow him on Twitter here.

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