ANDOVER — The General Election will take place on Tuesday, November 5, at the Andover Elementary/Middle School. The polls open at 8 AM and close at 7 PM. Please be sure to bring your ID with you.
If you are a first-time voter, a voter new to Andover, or someone who has lived here for years but never registered to vote, please be sure to register. If you aren’t 18 now, but will be 18 by Election Day, you may register to vote now with Lisa Meier, our Town Clerk, during her usual office hours, up until October 29 (see hours posted below). After that, you may go to the Supervisors of the Checklist and register with them when they hold their last pre-election meeting on Tuesday, October 29, from 6:30 to 7:00 PM, at Town Hall. You may also register to vote on Election Day.
In order to register, you will need to bring proof of age, citizenship, and domicile with you. Your passport, birth certificate, or naturalization papers prove your age and citizenship. You can prove your domicile with a utility bill, a rental agreement, or a photo ID that clearly states your current street address.
Students may bring a note signed by a New Hampshire school official. If you cannot provide all of this documentation, you may fill out an affidavit in which you swear that the information you fill out on the affidavit is true and accurate.
If you know that you will not be in Andover on November 5, or if you cannot make it to our polling station (AE/MS) for religious, employment, health, child, or eldercare reasons, you may request an absentee ballot. You may ask our Town Clerk, Lisa Meier, or our Deputy Clerk, Cindy Clark, to mail you an absentee ballot application or you can download it from the Secretary of State’s website. Google “New Hampshire Secretary of State absentee ballots,” go to that website, scroll down, and select “Absentee Ballot Application State Election.”
After you have printed and filled out the absentee ballot application, please mail it to our Town Clerk (PO Box 361, Andover, 03216), and she will mail you an absentee ballot as soon as they are available. Please be sure to follow the instructions. If you fail to follow the instructions, your ballot may be considered invalid.
The most important detail in filling out the absentee ballot is to sign the affidavit envelope. Please return the ballot to Town Hall as soon as possible. The best way to return your ballot is to drop it off in person during the Town Clerk’s hours. If you must return it by mail, please mail it before November 1.
The best way to vote absentee, if you will be in Andover the month before the election, is to come to Town Hall, fill out an application, hand it to our Town Clerk, and if we have already received the absentee ballots (they usually arrive 30 days before the election), we can hand you the ballot, you can fill it out, seal it in an absentee ballot envelope and submit it — all in one visit to Town Clerk.
Please be an informed voter. Research the candidates and issues. Please follow the instructions on the ballot.
Please make every effort to vote. It is not only a privilege and our right, but most important, it is our civic responsibility.
Town Clerk’s hours:
Monday, 9 AM to 4 PM
Tuesday, 10 AM to 6 PM
Wednesday, 9 AM to 4 PM
Thursday, 9 AM to 6 PM