Anne Baier remembers attending a New York campaign rally for John F. Kennedy when she was eight years old. Baier wore a button that said “If I were 21, I’d vote for Kennedy.” She recalled the awe she felt at seeing Kennedy come on stage and address the crowd.

“It made a big impression on me,” Baier said.

The experience cemented her future political engagement. Now 72, the Bow resident has voted in every election since she came of age and has volunteered as a poll worker on numerous occasions. For Baier, however, this election – and the anxiety surrounding it – feels different.

“It’s interesting, I usually read The New York Times every morning, and I have really stopped reading the paper,” she said. “My husband is a news fanatic, and I’ve told him, ‘Don’t talk to me about this.’ Now, the election is coming, and it will be what it will be, and I don’t want to talk about it anymore. It’s really terrifying.”

In recent conversations with local senior voters, some felt the level of anxiety Baier did while others said that though they have concerns about election results, they weren’t excited about either presidential candidate.

Baier said she’s never felt anxious ahead of an election before and cited Jan. 6, 2021, as marking a shift in her overall feelings about voting and elections. She worries about election results being challenged and feels concerned about the physical safety of voters. This year, she even considered whether to still serve as a poll worker.

“There was a little bit of hesitation about violence and harassment, but I still felt it was my civic duty to do it,” she said.

Sixty-nine-year-old Susan Hodgdon similarly fears potential challenges to elections and their results.

“Go with your gut,” she urged voters in their decision-making.

Roberta Brunelle of Concord said although she doesn’t feel anxious ahead of the election, she’s observed that social media contributes to voter anxiety.

“I think people always have these feelings, but social media and the way we have instant information and disinformation now at a moment’s notice is really what I believe is causing a lot more of the discourse to ramp up in a more negative fashion,” Brunelle said.

Other voters mentioned the negativity Brunelle described.

“Now it’s mudslinging and name-calling,” Boscawen resident Chuck Sheckler said. “I think over the years you see it, but it’s gotten out of hand.”

The 72 year-old veteran explained that he feels like it’s worse on a national level.

“If you bring it down to the state level, I think the two ladies running for governor have a little bit of mudslinging there, too,” Sheckler added.

Though he doesn’t experience anxiety about the election, he expressed not feeling happy with the overall environment.

“I remember the old days. You voted, and the next day you knew who won. Not anymore. Now there are legal cases where people have to verify results,” Sheckler said.

For Juanita Martin, who has been voting ever since she first came of age, this election does not elicit excitement the way previous elections used to.

“I feel like I’m in a maze,” Martin said. “I just don’t know. I’ve always had someone I feel strongly about before. Now, it just feels like voting between the lesser of two evils.”

George Gornnert, 87, remembers voting for Eisenhower back when he first could cast ballots. Now, he worries about artificial intelligence interfering in elections.

“With so much advertising on the television, it doesn’t help anxiety. But you sure can’t help but think about it,” he said.

Similarly to Martin, he doesn’t feel energized by either candidate.

“It feels different. There would be two party candidates and both of them made sense in what they told you about, and it felt like whoever won, it was going to improve the country,” Gornnert said.

Sally Creighton has voted for five decades and emphasized never feeling such a sense of “dread” ahead of an election before.

“It’s much, much worse this time. I have much more anxiety. It’s off the charts,” Creighton said.

She worries about the outcome of the election in impacting issues surrounding immigration, abortion, the Supreme Court, and the economy. As a senior citizen, she fears how potential policies could affect her welfare, she added.

Creighton has tried to stay busy as best as she can and not dwell on the ever-present anxiety she’s experiencing. For her, this comes in the form of reading books and avoiding watching politics on the television.

“Every four years they say it’s the most important election of our lives. It’s calmed down over time. But I really think this one is,” Creighton added.

Brunelle, however, expressed a different sentiment.

“It is what it is,” she said. “I’ve been through enough elections to know that it doesn’t always work out the way you think it’s going to, and you don’t always get the person you want. With anybody that runs, it’s more than one person in the end that’s running the government. And you just hope that if it’s not someone you’ve voted for, that the people who are doing the work are going to be fair and just to the citizens.”

Some longtime voters believe the path forward lies in positivity.

“I think people can get along better. Everything is negative now. Even the local elections are negative,” Gornnert said.

Regardless of who wins the race for president or any of the local elections, voters described their desires for the outcome.

“I hope we can try to be a kinder and more inclusive nation, because it doesn’t feel that way at times now,” Brunelle said.

Rachel Wachman can be reached at rwach man@cmonitor.com