New Hampshire

New Hampshire poll workers worried about safety before Election Day,

Published

2 years ago

October 26, 2024

New Hampshire poll workers worried about safety before Election Day,

DERRY, N.H. – There’s just over a week until Election Day and officials in New Hampshire are not only under added pressure to ensure a fair and safe process, they’re also struggling to find people willing to work as poll workers.

“We’re putting the test ballots through the machine, we do have to put them through four times,” said Derry Town Clerk Tina Guilford.

“We’re here to do our jobs”

It’s the kind of safeguards she said are built into the election process. Test ballots in eight machines are inserted several times, the numbers between the machines have to match. The machine head is then sealed until Election Day and Guilford said she’s feeling more scrutiny than ever before.

“We’re not here to play partisan politics, we’re here to do our jobs,” said Guilford.

Doing the job hasn’t been easy and Guilford said it’s even a struggle to get poll workers to work on election night.

“A lot of people have told me that they’ve worked elections in the past and they’re just not interested because of the environment because they call it toxic,” said Guilford.

Political tensions are high since former President Donald Trump lost re-election in 2020 and claimed the election was stolen. It’s cast suspicion on election workers and Guilford has felt it.

“I’ve been called a communist, fascist, not pleasant,” said Guilford. “They’re unhappy and they’re taking it out on the person they can get a hold of.”

Pledging transparency

At Manchester City Hall, the line was nearly out the door Friday with voters registering. There’s high interest in an election that has also prompted calls to Elections Manager Thomas Hilton, who said he can only pledge transparency.

“I understand where these people are coming from, that it’s their process,” said Hilton. “I think people are concerned, they want to know their vote is counting, as it should be. And so, I completely respect that and I’m glad that we can answer those questions for those people.”

Newly trained poll worker Jim Dietzel said he wants to be part of the process.

“If I, as a regular citizen, who’s not an insider, can go out and tell the public no, everything is really on the up and up here, I think it gives people a lot of confidence,” said Dietzel.

There’s no early voting in New Hampshire, just absentee ballots, so Election Day is expected to be particularly busy.

Beth Germano

Emmy award-winning Beth Germano is a general assignment reporter for WBZ-TV News. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Germano has been a New England-based reporter for more than 15 years. She joined WBZ-TV as a freelance reporter in 1996 after reporting for several local television stations including WCVB-TV, New England Cable News, Monitor Cable Channel, WLVI-TV, and WGBH-TV.

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New Hampshire

Best New Hampshire schools for athletes? According to one study, these are top 25

Published

1 hour ago

May 23, 2026

Press Room

Best New Hampshire schools for athletes? According to one study, these are top 25

New Hampshire has long carried an athletic pedigree in the high school landscape.

Total number of sports: 35

1. Bedford High School

Total number of sports: 34

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New Hampshire

New Hampshire police plan to charge

Published

13 hours ago

May 22, 2026

Press Room

Following the arrest of more than 50 people after a “takeover” at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire during the hot weather on Tuesday, the police chief tells WBZ-TV his department is seeking to charge those who organized the event.

Flyers posted on various social media sites advertised a “Hampton Beach Takeover.” The result was that on Tuesday, thousands of kids, many of them high school seniors skipping school, congregated at Hampton Beach.

When the skies opened and it started rain around 4:30, the group of teens ran onto Ocean Boulevard, where police say that fights broke out. Fifty people were arrested for charges, including alcohol possession and disorderly conduct.

Beach takeovers like this are not uncommon. WBZ-TV has covered several similar situations on Revere Beach in Massachusetts.

Local Hampton business owner Kristen Statires said this has become an annual issue, happening on the first hot weather day of every season since the pandemic.

“And the police know about it, we know about it, so we were expecting it. Like we knew it was going to happen,” she said.

When the kids ran into the street, she closed her shop doors and shut down for the day.

In a phone call with WBZ, Hampton Police Chief Alex Reno said his department already knows the two groups of people behind organizing the beach takeover, and plans to file the appropriate charges.

“It would be an aggressive move on the police’s part, but it would certainly send a message,” said WBZ legal analyst Jennifer Roman.

Reno said his department was continuing to gather evidence and is working with law-enforcement partners across New England and even at the federal level to determine the appropriate charges before issuing arrest warrants. The hope is that charging the organizers creates a deterrent for any future similar behavior.

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New Hampshire

Nashua Man Had Baggies Of Cocaine, Fentanyl, And Meth Inside Coalition Apartment Building, Concord Cops Say

Published

1 day ago

May 22, 2026

Press Room

Nashua Man Had Baggies Of Cocaine, Fentanyl, And Meth Inside Coalition Apartment Building, Concord Cops Say

CONCORD, NH — The fifth person arrested during a drug raid at the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness apartment building downtown is due back in court for a probable cause hearing next month.

Wilkie Gabriel Reyes Reynoso, 27, of Kendrick Street in Nashua, was arrested on May 14 on three felony counts of possession of a controlled drug.

On May 13, just before midnight, police executed a search warrant at an apartment in the Coalition’s new building on South State Street. The warrant was for the apartment and anyone located inside, according to an affidavit.

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Earlier in the evening, Denise Davenport, 57, who listed the address as her residence despite being trespassed from all Concord Coalition properties, was picked up on an electronic bench warrant as well as two felony counts of acts prohibited-sale of controlled drugs.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department and Concord District Court and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains how to request the removal of a name from New Hampshire Patch police reports.

Officers arrived at the apartment and detained multiple people.

Reyes Reynoso was accused of possessing a baggie of fentanyl, a baggie of methamphetamine, and two baggies of cocaine. He also had a cell phone vape, a cell phone, and $295 in cash, the affidavit said. Reyes Reynoso was processed and held on preventative detention.

Crystal Marquis Credit: Concord Police Department

Crystal Marquis, 46, of Concord, on a resisting arrest or detention charge.

Brittany Price Credit: Concord Police Department

Brittany Price, 29, of Concord, on a Merrimack County Sheriff’s Department warrant on a theft by unauthorized taking charge, as well as warrants from the Hooksett police, Brentwood District Court, and two Franklin District Court warrants. Another man, in his late 40s, was detained but has not been charged, according to police documents. According to the affidavit, “(he) was searched and nothing was located on his person.”

Reyes Reynoso was deemed “indigent” by Judge Ryan Guptill and given a public defender. He was released on personal recognizance after being arraigned on May 14 and is due back in Concord District Court for a probable cause hearing on June 8.

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