Local election workers are gearing up for Tuesday, when voters across New Hampshire will head to the polls. NHPR’s All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa spoke with Manchester’s Ward 4 Clerk Marcella Termini about how she’s preparing for Election Day.
Furukawa also spoke with James Ziegra, attorney for the Disability Rights Center NH, about rights and access to voting for individuals with disabilities. This segment was part of NHPR’s remote broadcast at the Airport Diner in Manchester ahead of Election Day.
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Transcript
Julia Furukawa: Marcella, let's start with you. What does a typical election day look like for you?
Marcella Termini: Well, it starts at 4:30 in the morning. Basically, for me, I arrive and have to take a look at the barriers for the election. The electioneer spins that up. Then moving into the building, kind of figuring out like, where are our poll pads going to be? So a lot of like pre set up in the morning. Right before the polls open, we make sure that our accessible voting machine is set up and that our voting machine is ready to go — so where folks put their ballots in. Then there's a lot of paperwork in between there, and processing absentee ballots and letting the folks in to come in and vote, which is probably the best part of the day, is seeing the first folks come in. So a lot of that. So just a lot of moving around quickly and making sure everything's running smoothly and according to the laws.
Julia Furukawa: And when it comes to running smoothly, what's some general guidance that you like to give voters before they arrive on Election Day, just to make sure it all goes as planned?
Marcella Termini: Definitely have your ID on you if you're coming to vote, if you voted before, especially. Manchester uses poll pads now to check folks in. So it's really simple. We scan your ID and your name comes up and you're all set to go and vote. So that makes it really easy if you're, you know, pretty equipped for that. And if you're new to voting and coming in to register for the first time, definitely have all of the paperwork that the state requires.
Julia Furukawa: James, I'll turn to you. Every polling place in New Hampshire must be accessible to individuals with disabilities. What does that mean, exactly?
James Ziegra: That means that all polling places need to have plenty of accessible parking for people to use. They need to have signage for the entrance. If it's an older building that has stairs in front, there may be an elevator out back. So there needs to be clear signage so that people with mobility impairments are able to access the polling place. Once they're inside, all the polling places need to have a nice, clear path of travel so people that are in wheelchairs or use walkers or things like that are able to get through them neatly. And yeah, in every polling place has an accessible voting system as well.
Julia Furukawa: Let's hear more about that. The state has introduced this accessible voting system. It's called One4All. How does it work?
James Ziegra: Sure. The Secretary of State has done a great job in the past couple of years making improvements to this voting system. It's the One4All. It's a tablet based system that's designed to allow voters with vision impairments or print disabilities to vote privately and independently. So they can make their selections using a headphones and a keyboard, or they could just, you know, tap the tablet on the screen — it's a touch screen — and select their candidates. When it's done, it prints out a paper ballot on the same ballot cardstock paper that everybody else uses, and they're able to bring that ballot to have it counted.
Julia Furukawa: And who can use this? Is this system available to anyone?
James Ziegra: That's the nice part. It's called the One4All system. So anybody can use it. Like I said, it was designed for people with disabilities, but I'd encourage all the listeners to give it a try. It's available at every polling place throughout the state, and sometimes it's a little bit quicker than, you know, going into the the booth and filling out the ballot manually with a paper and pen.
Julia Furukawa: So, Marcella, if a voter is unable to enter a polling place, an election official can assist them by casting their absentee ballots. Can you tell us how that process works?
Marcella Termini: Sure. There's kind of two different processes for that. One would be they could bring their ballot, if they've received an absentee ballot, and they would like to bring it to the polling place. We have some paperwork that gets filled out. Or if somebody is in their car, there's also a process for that where the moderator fills out some paperwork, and I believe we call our city hall. And the process there allows this person to vote without having to come in. And they could also vote absentee if that was something that they had kind of pre-planned for.
Julia Furukawa: And when it comes to those, it's not too late to request an absentee ballot. You can still request one up until the day before the election, right James?
James Ziegra: Yes, the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot is noon on Monday. So if folks are interested in voting absentee, you know, it's a little bit tight. The election is only four days away, but I'd suggest that they call their city or town clerk, you know, first thing in the morning on Monday when they open up and talk to them about what the best process for them to cast their absentee ballot is.
Julia Furukawa: And James, if someone does encounter an issue at a polling place or has questions about how they can cast their vote, what resources are available to them? Who should they call?
James Ziegra: There's a few different places you could call. The Attorney General's office has a hotline that folks can call on Election Day. You can call the Secretary of State's Office, or you can call the Disability Rights Center. We'll have a hotline going all day to specifically assist voters with disabilities if they encounter any sort of obstacles at the polling place.
Julia Furukawa: And, Marcella, there are concerns nationally and here in New Hampshire about election security and safety, especially with misinformation surrounding the results of the 2020 election. How do you and other poll workers make sure that the process is secure?
Marcella Termini: We go through a lot of training ahead of time. Probably since January, I've had at least five trainings to make sure that I know every procedure that the state has in place. So, you know, when it comes to counting the ballots ahead of time and counting the ballots at the end of the night, the processes are very clear. And we make sure that everyone who's volunteering and who's working the polls really knows what those steps are. That's like the first line of defense is getting a lot of training to make sure we know what the laws are.
Julia Furukawa: And have you had conversations with people who come to you and they're like, "Hey, I'm concerned about this," and what have those conversations looked like?
Marcella Termini: Yeah, we have folks who will come in, usually it's while they're turning in their ballot, and they'll be like, this doesn't matter. So we try to, you know, I always try to talk to them like, there's a real process here. Like we're following a process that has been in place for many years. I also offer folks like, you can volunteer with us. I can take your name now. You can sign up. It's usually my favorite thing to do is to just ask them to be a part of it, so they can see that this is a real secure process.
Julia Furukawa: And just quickly in the 30 seconds or so we have left, we've talked about concerns around elections, but I'd love to hear from both of you. What do you enjoy about your work around election season? I'll start with you, James.
James Ziegra: I love going around the state, talking with voters of varying abilities about their rights to vote, helping them check if they're registered to vote, explaining the process for registration, and making sure that they understand that there's accommodations available. So if they need assistance at the polling place, they know that it is available.
Marcella Termini: I think my favorite part is getting to be submerged in my community, seeing my neighbors, seeing the folks that are walking by with their dogs during the week. It's really great to just be able to just work with folks that I live with and see on a daily basis.
