CONCORD, N.H.—Voters appeared to be on track to cast a record number of ballots in Tuesday's presidential primary. And while some election officials had to hustle to find or copy blank ballots, no significant delays were reported.
Just before the last polls closed at 8 p.m., Secretary of State William Gardner said there was every indication turnout would be a record.
"Turnout is high, very high," Gardner said.
He said he hadn't seen complete vote tallies, but he noted that 2,300 people had voted in Bow by 2 p.m. The town's previous record at that hour was 1,600 votes.
Voting officials in several towns briefly ran out of ballots and substituted unused absentee ballots or photocopied ballots.
"We're overwhelmed. We had to use extra paper ballots that we hadn't anticipated," said Salem moderator Charles Morse.
In Waterville Valley, town clerk Pat Kucharski said voter turnout was "exceptionally heavy," particularly for the Democratic primary.
Last week, Gardner estimated that 500,000 ballots would be cast between the Democratic and Republican primaries, shattering the record 396,385 cast in 2000.
Tuesday night, he said he saw no reason to doubt a record would be set. He also predicted a record for voters registering at the polls, which has been allowed in New Hampshire for the last three primaries.
Voting was strong in the state's two largest cities.
"It's a very busy day. I think its going to be a high turnout," Manchester City Clerk Carol Johnson said.
Manchester Ward 5 clerk Madeline Walsh reported heavy turnout.
"There was 1,961 voters reported, and based on what I can tell, that's almost double of typical primary years," she said. She still had to hand-count more than 100 ballots that were rejected by voting machines for various reasons.
In Nashua, City Clerk Paul Bergeron was projecting 55 percent to 60 percent voter turnout and expecting a record number of voters, but he wasn't sure if it would be a record for percentage turnout.
