To the Town/City of HAMPTON, New Hampshire. We, the undersigned duly registered voters in the Town/City of HAMPTON, New Hampshire, hereby petition and apply for the insertion of the follow warrant article: “Shall the following provision pertaining to elections be adopted?: This petition article seeks to change the closing times of the Hampton, NH polls to 7PM on election day to match the vast majority of polling places in NH including surrounding towns North Hampton, Rye, Portsmouth, Greenland, Newmarket, Durham and Newington.
What it means: A petitioned Warrant Article is requesting that the Town close voting polls an hour earlier than has been the procedure in Hampton. While polls currently close at 8 PM, if this article is approved, they would close at 7 PM for all future elections. If you want the polls to close at 7 PM, vote “yes”. If you want the poll to stay open as they currently do until 8 PM, vote “no”.
Those in favor say: Concerns were expressed about potential voter fraud from out-of-staters using same-day voter registration to vote in Hampton after polls close in neighboring towns. No evidence of this was presented.
Those against say: Keeping polls open until 8:00 PM allows more time to vote, especially for families where one member works and the other is dedicated to the care of children, and for those who work a distance from home and need the time to get to the Hampton polls. The current timing helps to encourage more democratic participation.
Fiscal impact: There is no taxpayer cost associated with this Article.