Jack Rooney | October 10, 2020
U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster campaigned in the Monadnock Region Friday, where she encouraged voters to make a plan to cast their ballot in the Nov. 3 general election, and visited several local businesses to learn how they have fared during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At her first stop, a news conference on Keene’s Central Square, Kuster, D-N.H., said Granite Staters have more ways than ever before to vote this year, in what she views as a critical election.
“Honestly, in my lifetime, I don’t think there’s ever been a more important election,” Kuster, 63, of Hopkinton, said at the news conference. “Our health care is on the ballot. Our women’s reproductive rights and our economy are on the ballot. The future of our planet and our environment is on the ballot. So please, make a plan to vote.”
Kuster herself voted Thursday in Hopkinton, she said, by going to the town clerk’s office, requesting an absentee ballot and filling it out on the spot.
“That’s how easy it is,” she said.
Kuster is seeking her fifth term as a U.S. representative in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes the entire Monadnock Region. She faces a challenge in the general election from Steve Negron, a Republican from Nashua, and Libertarian candidate Andrew Olding, also of Nashua.
Donovan Fenton, a Keene Democrat who represents Cheshire County District 8 in the N.H. House of Representatives, joined Kuster at her event on Central Square in Keene, and reiterated that voters have a variety of options for how to cast their ballot this fall.
“You don’t have to choose between being safe or voting,” said Fenton, who is running unopposed for re-election. “There are plenty of safe ways to vote.”
For instance, Kuster said, any New Hampshire voter can request an absentee ballot this year by citing concern over COVID-19. People who choose this option can then return their ballot to their city or town clerk’s office by hand, or send it in the mail. If people choose to vote by mail, Kuster said they should send their ballot back at least a week before the election to ensure it arrives by 5 p.m. on Nov. 3.
“We want, with these events, to make sure that people understand their options,” Kuster said. “You can get an absentee ballot and hand-deliver it to your town clerk now, so that you don’t have to be concerned or worried about the mail. But I’m confident that if you mail it early enough, that the post office ... will deliver the mail.”
And, of course, she added, voters can still cast their ballots in person on Election Day at polling places she said will follow COVID-19 health and safety protocols like requiring masks and enforcing physical distancing.
Kuster held a similar news conference to share information on voting Friday afternoon in Peterborough, where she was joined by N.H. Sen. Jeanne Dietsch, a Peterborough Democrat who represents District 9. Dietsch is running for re-election against Republican Denise Ricciardi of Bedford, in a district that includes the local communities of Dublin, Fitzwilliam, Greenfield, Hancock, Jaffrey, Peterborough, Richmond and Troy.
In both Keene and Peterborough, Kuster also stopped by several local businesses, where she said she wanted to get a better understanding of how the federal government’s pandemic relief programs have affected New Hampshire workers. In Keene, Kuster visited Luca’s Mediterranean Cafe on Central Square; Synergy, a clothing boutique on Main Street; and Brewbakers Cafe at its new location on Emerald Street.
“And I was very inspired by how creative they were in reaching resolution of the challenges that they faced,” Kuster said in a phone interview after the visits. “They were very entrepreneurial, each of them in their own way.”
Luca Paris, who owns Luca’s, said he told Kuster about how the restaurant transitioned to serving primarily take-out customers, and how the city government worked with the restaurant to ease restrictions on outdoor seating.
“The biggest thing that I wanted to make sure she knew is how proud we were as a business to be in Keene with our local officials,” Paris said in a phone interview Friday afternoon. “I think the way our local government has handled this has been why we’re doing so well.”
At Synergy, owner Gary Tateosian said he detailed for Kuster how the store revitalized its website when its physical location had to close due to the pandemic in March.
“It was very anemic because we were doing fine without it,” Tateosian said of the store’s website. “And then we realized we have a lot of recognizable name brand products, and we’ve been getting orders from all over the country, and even internationally.”
Kuster, who also stopped at Twelve Pine restaurant and marketplace and Post & Beam Brewing in Peterborough, said these visits helped her better understand how the federal government’s COVID-19 response has played out in communities throughout the state.
“And, for me, to visit and get these real-world examples of the resiliency of small businesses in New Hampshire — whether it’s moving their sales online or creating more space where customers are going to feel safe — all of these are strategies to keep our economy going until we get to the vaccine and get to the other side here, which I’m very confident will happen by late winter, early spring.”