Portraits of New Hampshire Primary Voters

FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Travel

Portraits of New Hampshire Primary Voters

Photographer Pete Voelker is touring the primary states asking ordinary voters what their most important issues are. Today: New Hampshire.

The crossed the bridge to Maine to get a waterfront view of the Portsmouth New Hampshire skyline.

This November, photographer Pete Voelker took a tour of the early primary states that play an outsized role in deciding who the next US president will be. He attended candidate rallies, went to debate parties and luncheons, and sometimes just walked up and down the streets to find people to talk to. He was curious to see not which candidates they supported, but what their key issues were. The result is not a formal poll, but an anecdotal examination of what matters to Americans, and a preview of what's going to get debated in the months leading up to Election Day.

Advertisement

Today's photo essay is from New Hampshire, whose citizens will be casting primary votes February 9.

All photographs by Pete Voelker.

Peter Collins is an activist who sits for at least six hours a week in Nashua to help spread his anti-war message. When I stumbled across him he was sitting outside Senator Kelly Ayotte's office on Main Street.

I took this shot looking up from the press pit at a November 9 Hillary Clinton event. The hands belong to an attendee waiting for the town hall–style gathering to start.

The New Hampshire Statehouse peaks above buildings on Main Street in Concord on a beautifully crisp November morning.

Michael O’Toole, a local student, photographed exiting Hillary Clinton’s rally in Windham. His number one issue in the upcoming election was the “economy and college tuition.”

Isaiah Able, an art student in Manchester who's originally from New York. His main concerns were “police brutality and student loans/college tuition.”

A crowded town hall event for Clinton on November 9 in Windham.

Pat and Sean Lannon, proud grandparents, leaving Clinton’s town hall event in Windham. They were most concerned about the economy and free community college.

Clinton speaking in Windham.

Clinton at the same event.

Ruben Rowell, who I met on Elm Street in Manchester, was down on his luck and struggling to find good work. His number-one issue was “support for the middle class, ending homelessness.”

Theopista Kalemba told me that “as a nurse who see’s too many people without insurance and not getting care,” her main issue was "healthcare."

A sign for the New Hampshire Rebellion, a group fighting super PACs.

Amy Sanginario, an art student I met outside of the YMCA on Mechanic Street in Manchester, said she was most concerned about legalizing recreational marijuana.

Signs were hanging on pretty much every surface at Windham High School for Hillary Clinton’s town hall rally on November 9.

David Noard is a playwright, performer, and artist. We met outside a coffee shop in downtown Portsmouth, where he told me he was most worried about “income, racial, and gender equality.”

Daniel Lennon, fresh off the fishing boat he works on out of Portsmouth, told me he wanted to see marijuana legalized.

A sign for Donald Trump that mashes up Ronald Reagan and Twisted Sister. He's really going after the I Love the 80s vote.

Aaron Drew, a bartender at Portsmouth's Press Room bar. He was in favor of “stronger education programs.”

Zachary Rohacek, who I met outside a restaurant before he headed in to start his second shift of the day at his second full-time job. His main issues were “affordable housing, college tuition, and income equality.”