VOTERS FACING DELUGE OF CALLS, TEXTS AND MAILERS
‘My phone has been essentially useless’
This election cycle has been a novel one for Granite State voters.
The 2024 New Hampshire primary races, according to voters interviewed by the Herald, have featured more campaign mailers and unidentified-number phone calls supporting candidates than any past election season, and when coupled with the addition of robo-text messaging, culminated in the most obnoxious White House run in recent memory.
“It’s been essentially nonstop,” Emily Kaskis, of Manchester told the Herald. “I’m talking about dozens of calls per day. It’s infuriating. Most annoying election in the history of elections.”
When the cycle started and there were more than half-a-dozen Republicans chasing the party nomination, Kaskis said she was blocking callers for candidates and pollsters left and right. Then came the texts.
“My phone has been essentially useless,” she said. “Every notification is for someone I don’t want to talk to.”
It’s been non-stop since November of 2022, when former President Donald Trump launched his second bid for a second term.
“My husband is an independent, so we have been bombarded from the right,” Patricia Turner, of Rochester, said. “We’ve been inundated by Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis and Vivek before he dropped out.”
The politicians keep calling and calling, even if they find no one on the other end of the line.
“20 or 30 spam, calls a day,” Nancy Kierstead, of Rochester said. “I’m at a point where if I don’t know the name, I don’t touch the phone. I don’t answer surveys. I started blocking them. There are more now, but I’m better at ignoring it. I’m being held hostage by my phone.”
The problem has improved somewhat as the Republican field has narrowed but it’s not just the phone calls. It’s the mail.
Former U.N. Ambassador Haley’s campaign has been spending a lot of money on postage, according to voters. All of those interviewed by the Herald said that the former South Carolina governor had sent them dozens of campaign flyers through the postal service over the last two weeks.
“I probably got four or five just yesterday,” Kierstead said. “I don’t read them, I just throw them in the trash.”
It’s annoying, Kierstead said, but part of living in the Live Free or Die State, where the nation’s first primary is held.
“It’s better than the alternative I suppose. It’s the democratic process,” she said.
It’s not just the constant calls from candidates making this election novel, according to some voters holding signs encouraging people to write-in President Joe Biden’s name during Tuesday’s primary.
“Democracy is on the line,” Kathy McCloud, of Rochester, said. “All of our institutions are being undermined by Mr. Trump, and Fox News. I’ve never felt like democracy was on the line in past elections. That’s what’s really different.”