Welcome to Week Two of my column looking back at my week in the world of Ink Link as well as thoughts for upcoming stories I hope to share in the near future. If you missed it, here’s a look at last week’s column.
Election Day/Week/Whatever
This week technically concluded the 2020 State and Federal Election here in New Hampshire, finishing off a process back during the Presidential Primaries that feels like a million years ago now. Official results will take a week or two more than likely and the Electoral College won’t confirm the Presidential results until December, but those are just the dying embers of a now fading flame.
On Election Day itself, I took a trip up to Dixville Notch (not sure if I’ll do it again, but it’s certainly an experience), and caught up with Chris Pappas and Matt Mowers as they cast their ballots in Manchester and Bedford respectively. The round-trip to Dixville took about eight hours given snowy conditions north of Franconia and the fact that Coos County at night is dark in a way that is hard to fathom here in the Manchester area.
Still, it was a little easier than it was during the Primary since during that trip up there for the Primary vote, I went up there straight after a Biden event on Hanover Street.
Joe Biden is now the President-Elect , and Pappas returned to Congress as the Democrats maintained their hold on New Hampshire’s Electoral Votes and Congressional Delegation while the Republicans ran the table when it came to Concord.
One big question now is how the GOP in Concord will deal with redistricting for the next ten years, something we’ll try to provide some insight on in the next week or two. Hopefully, we’ll also try to provide additional maps when it comes to floor votes in Concord in an expansion of the early attempts at mapping out the predictions for the election this time around.
Congrats to Trinity
The 2020 high school sports season is now officially over in Manchester after Trinity took the NHIAA Division III Boys’ Soccer title at home on Saturday.
Trinity went undefeated this year outside of a pair of losses to Central, a team two tiers higher than Trinity that is always in the conversation as one of the best teams in the state, and a wakeup call draw against Derryfield.
The Pioneers cruised through the playoffs with wins against defending champion Campbell, defending runner-up Mascenic, Conant and Raymond.
Given that it is unclear when the COVID-19 pandemic might end and whether indoor sports can be played safely this winter, it remains a question whether there will be a winter season for the teams of Manchester’s five high schools. One thing is certain: if there are seasons, we’ll do our best to be there and we’ll do our best to help spread the word on how Manchester’s student-athletes are doing when it comes to the games we can’t get to.
Miscellaneous
In some ways, Election Day felt like the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, and planning has already begun at Ink Link HQ on the avalanche of coverage we will have for Manchester’s municipal election just 11 months and change from now.
We’ll also be providing a follow up to our look at how New Hampshire’s schools reopened during the pandemic.
