Most voters only see what happens on Election Day during the 15 minutes it takes them to park, walk in, stand in line, show identification, get a ballot, vote behind a curtain, and insert their ballot into a vote-counting machine.  Here are some behind-the-scenes. 

Tuesday, 4:00 a.m.  Throughout Portsmouth over a hundred citizens get up, make coffee or tea, have breakfast, feed the cat, walk the dog, get to their car − whoops, run back into the house for a quick shower − then drive to a place that for a day becomes a center of American democracy. 

Two weeks earlier they had squeezed into Portsmouth City Hall for training led by state election officials.  Election laws are sometimes complicated. The process demands accuracy and transparency, so training is precise and extensive. A week later there’s another mandatory training by City Clerk Kelli Barnaby and her staff.

Despite being involved in over a hundred elections during more than fifty years, I experienced the entire process from the inside only once before. This past week I spent the day at Ward 1, New Franklin School off Woodbury Avenue.  Here’s a short story of seeing an election start to finish.

By 7 a.m. all the poll workers, around 20 of them, arrive.  The city’s Public Works Department staff had earlier brought heavy voting equipment, now it has to be set up and plugged in.  City staff soon come with boxes of official ballots.  A police officer walks his K9 dog to clear the location in these times of needed caution.

Everyone has to be ready for voters at 8 a.m., and much needs to be done.  As the clock ticks there’s a rush to finish dozens of little tasks.  About ten minutes before launch time, Steve Pesci, elected last November as Ward Moderator, calls the staff together to administer the oath. 

That is perhaps the first moment everyone realizes how important their collective roles are.  We’re about to run an election that is special not only in the world, but in America too:  the New Hampshire First-in-The Nation Presidential Primary, which comes once every four years.

Precisely at 8 a.m. Pesci lets it be known:  “The polls are open.” The next 11 hours are filled by people of varying philosophies and political beliefs joined together by agreeing to use a ballot rather than other means to choose who governs us.  It’s a beautiful thing to see.

From then until the final voter finishes at 7 p.m., 1,456 ballots are cast at Ward 1, most of them in person with several dozen by absentee.  Pesci officially closes the polls and the counting process begins. 

News reporters and other observers arrive to watch the process as ballots are placed on tables.  Unlike most elections these ballots have many write-ins which have to be counted by hand.  It isn’t until around 10 p.m. that the jobs of most ward workers are finished.

Steve Pesci isn’t finished.  Having put on miles walking around all day checking on everything from tables to assigning lunch breaks, looking outside to make sure candidates are following rules, handling minor machine malfunctions and answering questions from voters and media, he has more to do.

He has to bring the ballots and final results to the City Clerk’s Office for their confirmation.  He gets home at 2 a.m. Wednesday.

Many people have died to protect our democratic process   A little lost sleep is a small donation. 

Some results:  President Joe Biden is well-liked in Portsmouth.  Citywide he received 2,672 write-ins.  That’s 74.3 percent of Democrats voting.  In Ward 1, he received 478 votes, or 71.99 percent.  Citywide, ex-President Trump received 1,445 votes.  That’s 36.5 percent among Republican ballots.   In Ward 1 he received 290 votes, for 36.6 percent.  All results are reported on the city’s website.

Today’s thought:  I wrote in my mom Althea Duval Splaine for President of the United States.  I smiled.

Today’s quotes:   “That was fun, I’ll be back again.”  – A 10 year old girl after I gave her an “I Voted” sticker when she placed a ballot into the vote counting machine.  Maybe a future President. 

“I don’t get too angry.  I get even.”  – Donald J. Trump, speaking to supporters the day after the election.  He wants to be President again.

Next time:  Ward 1:  The Rest of The Story.

Variously since 1969, Jim Splaine has been Portsmouth Assistant Mayor for 6 terms, Police Commissioner, and School Board member, as well as N.H. State Senator for 6 years and Representative for 24 years.  Tuesday he was Ward 1 Clerk.  He can be reached at jimsplaineportsmouth@gmail.com

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Splaine: NH primary: Behind the scenes at a Portsmouth polling place