2022 Election Report
As of this writing, we have 889 voters on the checklist: 270 Democrats, 286 Republicans, and 333 Undeclared voters.
If you noticed that we have fewer voters in Bennington this year than last, it is because the 10-year purge has just been performed. During the Spring and Summer of years ending in a "1", the Supervisors complete the 10 year "purge" of the checklist. State Law mandates that we do this once every 10 years to keep the checklist up-to-date. The Supervisors cannot take someone off the checklist unless we know for certain that they have died or re-registered somewhere else. With the computerized statewide checklist it is easy to track voters who move within the state. But when voters move farther, sometimes the information does not reach us. The purge gives us a way to carefully remove some voters who have not voted in a very long time. First we send out a letter to make sure they are not still living in Bennington. If we get no response from them, then we can remove them. The New Hampshire voter "purge" (unlike poorly designed purges in other states that have no means of redress) is a fail-safe system: even if you come to the polls and find that you have been removed, you can still re-register, using the Same Day voter registration system.
While it is an admirable goal to have a "clean" checklist, the numbers beg us to look more closely at them. Why is a clean checklist good? Certainly, it will improve our turnout numbers. For example, before we purged the checklist, this time last year, we had 1150 voters on the checklist. With that number, our voter turnout for 2021 Town Election was 218/1150 = 19% turnout, while that same turnout number was more accurately 218/889 = 25% turnout. The clean checklist yields better voter turnout numbers!
We could just pat ourselves on the back and walk away. Or we could look at that 889 number a bit more closely. One thing that is striking is that it is very close to the number of voters we had after our last purge, ten years ago, in 2011: 877. But surely the population of New Hampshire has grown in the last ten years. Are fewer people voting? That wouldn't be good. Let's see if we can make an educated guess.
The 2020 US Census population of Bennington was 1501, with 1182 of those being over 18, and thus eligible to vote. That means, in general, that around 79% of our population is over 18, and we can assume that most of those are citizens and eligible to vote. If we assume that our population hasn't changed greatly since 2020, that means that 889/1182, or around 75% of adults in Bennington who are eligible to vote have bothered to register.
So how does this compare to 2011? American Community Survey data for 2010 puts our total population for 2010 at 1476. Using 79% as the percentage over 18, we had around 1,166 adults over 18 in 2011. However, there has been a decline in school-age population in recent years, which might actually increase the under-18 population in 2011 from 21% to, say, 25%. Doing the same calculation with that adjustment yields 1107 voting age adults, with a participation rate of 877/1107 or 79%, a slight difference from today's 75%, indicating a ten-year decline in participation of 4%.
Anyone who serves in town government these days will not be surprised at these numbers. Along with a drop in voter participation, we see a decline overall in participation in government. It is often difficult to find people to fill positions in the town government, with many elected positions unfilled or with a single person running unopposed.
It's relatively easy to register to vote in New Hampshire. While this author would like to see online voter registration in the future, the next best alternative is Same Day registration, where residents of the town with the appropriate proofs can simply come to the polls, register, and vote on election day. It's also easy to register at the Town Hall when you come in to register your car or pay your taxes. In a participatory democracy, we should work towards the goal that everyone who is eligible to vote, should vote. A 4% drop in participation is not too bad, unless it points to a longer trend. In any case, it's up to all of us to encourage our relatives, friends, coworkers, and neighbors to get involved.
Thanks to all who participate!
Walter Turner
Sincerest Thanks to all of our election workers:
Brenda Gibbons
Melissa Searles
Debra Belcher
Karen Belcher
John Cronin
Bethany Craig
Debra Page
Barbara Goodwin
Rhonda Davie
