CNHT’s Straw Poll at Tea Party

CNHT often has straw polls at its events – the next one will be on July 10th. Perhaps more people will have made up their minds by then!

Here are your Coalition of NH Taxpayers Tea Party Straw Poll results with an explanation of how the straw poll was held as reported by Ed Naile from CNHT…

We started with an empty, unfolded, cardboard box from Staples and had Grant Bossie check it out at Victory Park as it was taped shut and a hole for the ballots cut in the top. We put bumper stickers and the names of candidates who had announced on the sides of the box.

We also had 8.5 x 11 sheets from which straw poll voters could pick candidates.

No names were on ballots – voters had to write the names down.

As people came to vote we handed them a ballot and stamped their hand with a marker.

After voting was over we taped the box shut with fluorescent duct tape and signed our names over the tape and box. The box was dropped off at the CNHT Office in Concord until we counted Tuesday night starting at 6:30 pm. Anyone who responded to requests for counters was allowed to count or observe.

We had three teams of two counters when I cut the ballot box seal and we cut the pile of 226 ballots into five separate piles. One member of a team would read the name and the other would put a mark next to the name on one of the candidate sheets we used at the Tea Party.

As the ballots were counted two of us “ballot clerks” stamped the counted ballots with various ink stamps so they would not be mistakenly counted again. As the counters ran out of ballots we handed them a few more until we were done. The counted ballots are in our office.

There were some blank ballots cast and several write-in candidates who were not declared candidates in our poll. Andy Hemingway had one vote, Sean Mahoney – two votes and Ron Paul – one vote. [Note: There was no vote for any presidential race…]

For US Senate:

Ayotte 45
Bender 23
Binnie 36
Blevens 5
Hodes 0
Lamontagne 96

Congress District 1:

Ashooh 20
Bearse 0
Bestani 8
Castaldo 1
Guinta 135
Hodson 3
Shea-Porter 1

Congress District 2:

Bass 25
De Joie 0
Giuda 59
Horn 87
Kuster 1
Wilson 6
Swett 0

Governor:

Babiarz 12
Kimball 65
Lynch 0
Stephen 101
Testerman 16

For those of you who like more detail in straw polls I can say this: I had a sizable amount of people not vote, even after coming to the booth and looking around, because, they said, they had not made up their mind or wanted to talk to or find out more about candidates.

We talked up the poll from the stage and with a bull horn as well as the run I made through the crowd showing people a sample ballot. Not a lot of people voted compared to the crowd.

So now you know what the Tea Party crowd is thinking in the way of declared candidates.

Thanks to all who participated.