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Voters in Nashua Have Their Say

Sheryl Rich-Kern

Record numbers of voters lined up this morning at the polls in Nashua.

Priscilla Betses of Nashua is in her late 70s and has been voting she was 18.

That’s a lot of election cycles. But she says this one stands out.

It’s too negative. They’re spending an awful lot of money of advertising. I’ll be happy when it’s over. Too many robo-calls and TV and the whole bit.

Octogenarian Liona Wilson has voted since before World War II and shares similar concerns:

I want people to support each other, rather than all this tearing apart.

And some voters say these year’s ads are extending boundaries they haven’t before:

I’m Tracy Hollis. I always thought Facebook was a social network to catch up with family and friends and it’s become this political free-for-all and I find it just, almost repulsive. I think all the political ads will stop around eight tonight and I look forward to being able to watch TV and not be inundated with all that stuff.

But despite the negative campaigning, most, like Helen Honorow, can’t wait to show up at the polls.

I love voting day. It’s one of my favorites. We celebrated it in our house when the kids were little. We always went out for pizza and made a big deal out of voting.

Honorow also says this year’s election may make history on several fronts:

It will be interesting to see what happens with the venerable polling idea, whether it really matters that people no longer have land lines and we can no longer pin people down that way. It will be interesting to see whether polling is a thing of the past or it needs to be revamped. Also, I think the enthusiasm and the turnout of young people in the last election was an extraordinary thing. I believe it’s going to happen again and I think that’s going to be here to stay. And that’s pretty exciting.

A steady stream of voters continued to exit their ballot curtains with a grin, most expressing relief that voting day had finally arrived.

Sheryl Rich-Kern has been contributing stories for NHPR since 2006, covering education, social services, business, health care and an occasional quirky yarn that epitomizes life in New Hampshire. Sherylâââ
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