First in the Nation Primary - left up to a bunch of Hicks?
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We travel a country mile to cast our ballot. Voting at the 100+ year old Grange Hall is truly a rural experience. There is no permanent heat at the old Grange Hall which is located next to the town Cemetery. The 1,200 residents of my home town exist in the three ring binders of registered voters. We take the vote seriously and the history of our First in the Nation Primary in New Hampshire tells the nation we sure can pick-em.
I arrived at 9:30 but thank goodness someone had got there early and started the wood-stove. The local contractor, selectmen, plow truck operator was there to nod hello and enjoy the free coffee. The Town Moderator instructed the elderly couple checking off names where I could be found on the official list. The Police Chief was on his second donut, and the temporary handicap ramp was in place for the day.
It was a balmy 24 degrees outside, and the witnesses to this official freedom were mostly in flannel. I’m what the locals call a flat-lander…having grown up near Boston and not actually being born here. I do own a plow truck – a chain saw and a field and brush mower. But today I arrived in the standard Realtor issued BMW SUV. Yup…He gets to vote here, I know – I know being here 30 years doesn’t make him a local…but he still gets to vote.
I initialed beside my name on the check list and headed for one of the four curtained voting booths. The Curtains are a lovely Red – White and Blue Striped pattern. The republican Ballot had 19 Candidates to choose from. Hell I could have been on the ballot…with a few hundred signatures and a couple of grand I could run in a New Hampshire Primary.
The Woodstock NH Grange Hall...Where some 400 votes were cast - Quiet till November.
If you don’t vote in the primaries –or the general election don’t cry when you don’t like the outcome. I’m a city boy who lives in the country…and I love it here. Every one of these colorful characters would pull me out of a snow bank, or lend me ten bucks if I forgot my wallet and these are the folks that set the tone of the general election for the rest of the year. I joke about our Yankee independent, Redneck status but I trust the integrity of New Hampshire voters and the quaintness of voting in a building heated only by a wood-stove surrounded by plow trucks and American made cars (except for mine). Don’t pass up Voting this is what people in other countries are fighting and dying for…....and we don’t go out because it might snow.
A Typical Winter Day in Woodstock New haqmpshire...my back yard.
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