{"id":12753,"date":"2024-03-24T19:52:44","date_gmt":"2024-03-24T19:52:44","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"Vote-counting-machine-foes-hoped-for-a-surge-of-success-in-New-Hampshire-They-got-barely-a-ripple-54486275\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=12753","title":{"rendered":"Vote-counting machine foes hoped for a surge of success in New Hampshire. They got barely a ripple"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Residents
Residents gather at the Inter-Lakes Middle\/High School for the annual Meredith Town Meeting vote on March 13.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Laurie
Laurie Pappas argues in favor of vote-counting machines in Hopkinton, N.H., on Thursday, March 21, 2024. Hopkinton was one of more than 20 towns that rejected such measures this month. Only one town voted to return to hand-counting of ballots, but the secretary of state says the decision is unlikely to stand. (AP Photo\/Holly Ramer).<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"A
A crowd of more than 500 gathers at the Inter-Lakes Middle\/High School for the annual Meredith Town Meeting on March 13, 2024, in Meredith, N.H. An orchestrated effort to get rid of vote-counting machines from dozens of towns and return to hand-counting elections has failed. Just a single town opted to return to hand counts in a single race, the presidential election, in a decision that both the town’s attorney and the secretary of state say is unlikely to stand. (AP Photo\/Nick Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Don
Don Vickery argues against getting rid of vote-counting machines in Hopkinton, N.H., on Thursday, March 21, 2024. Hopkinton was one of more than 20 towns that rejected such measures this month. Only one town voted to return to hand-counting of ballots, but the secretary of state says the decision is unlikely to stand. (AP Photo\/Holly Ramer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Residents
Residents line up outside the Inter-Lakes Middle\/High School for the annual Meredith Town Meeting on March 13, 2024, in Meredith, N.H. An orchestrated effort to get rid of vote-counting machines from dozens of towns and return to hand-counting elections has failed. Just a single town opted to return to hand counts in a single race, the presidential election, in a decision that both the town’s attorney and the secretary of state say is unlikely to stand. (AP Photo\/Nick Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"A
A flier sent to some residents in New Hampshire warns against vote-counting machines in this photo taken on March 22, 2024. An orchestrated effort to get rid of vote-counting machines from dozens of towns and return to hand-counting elections has failed. Just a single town opted to return to hand counts in a single race, the presidential election, in a decision that both the town’s attorney and the secretary of state say is unlikely to stand. (AP Photo\/Nick Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"File
File – Lynne Gagnon, Derry, N.H. deputy town clerk, left, unloads test ballots from a storage cart as Tina Guilford, Derry town clerk, prepares to load them into the ballot counting machine again while testing the machines ahead of the New Hampshire primary, at the Derry Municipal Center, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"File
File – Lisa Hultgren, the Derry, N.H. town moderator, loads a vote counting machine into a cart, which stores the paper ballots, while testing vote counting machines before the New Hampshire primary at the Derry Municipal Center, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>

HOPKINTON \u2014 Like the old saying about March itself, an orchestrated effort to get rid of vote-counting machines in New Hampshire this month came in like a lion and went out like a lamb.<\/p>\n

\u201cElectronic machines will face the wrath of New Hampshire voters in March!\u201d Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder and ally of former President Donald Trump, crowed in a January fundraising pitch.<\/p>\n

Not quite. After initially targeting 55 towns, Lindell\u2019s supporters gathered enough petitions to bring the topic up at 23 of the annual town meetings held this month to adopt budgets and settle other matters. Only Danville \u2014 population 4,500 \u2014 voted in favor of hand-counting ballots, and only for presidential elections in a decision that both the town\u2019s attorney and the secretary of state say is unlikely to stand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of misinformation that was being spread,\u201d Secretary of State David Scanlan said Thursday. \u201cI think the general public saw through it, and the votes at those town meetings reflect that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The push for hand-counting ballots has been gaining popularity across rural America in response to unfounded claims of widespread fraud tied to ballot-counting machines following the 2020 election. There is no evidence that machines were tampered with, and such claims have been repeatedly rejected by election experts, prosecutors and judges.<\/p>\n

In New Hampshire, sinister flyers sent to some households described vote-counting machines as \u201cflawed and hackable\u201d and warned of manipulation. Most town officials disagreed, saying there was no evidence of any problems and that returning to hand counts would have been labor intensive and costly.<\/p>\n

In Hopkinton, Selectboard Chair Sabrina Dunlap referenced the \u201cbaseless claims\u201d made by outside groups in arguing against the hand-counting measure that was defeated Thursday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ballot machines are tested before every election, and this process is open to the public, as is the ballot-counting process,\u201d she said. \u201cThe town has been using these machines for many, many years, and our election officials confirm they are secure and accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danville Selectman Shawn O\u2019Neil, who championed the issue in his town, said he has faith in local election workers but has broad concerns about vote-counting machines. He limited the question to the presidential race because it\u2019s the nation\u2019s top office.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sets the direction for the free world,\u201d O\u2019Neil said, adding that \u201cif sinister people are going to be corrupt, they\u2019re not going to do it for the Rockingham Register of Deeds office.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem? Two months before the vote, Danville\u2019s town attorney, Matt Serge, had advised O\u2019Neil and the other selectmen that the vote likely wouldn\u2019t stand. He said that is because under state law, \u201cthe town cannot pick and choose which votes are machine-counted and which are counted by hand.\u201d Scanlan this week agreed and said he is consulting with the state attorney general\u2019s office on the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an all-or-nothing situation,\u201d Scanlan said. \u201cFrankly, I think that it would be a bad precedent to start allowing individual races to be targeted for hand-counting versus machine-counting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Undeterred, O\u2019Neil said he believes the state law is ambiguous and the town\u2019s vote was valid. He plans to take legal action to enforce the will of Danville voters, he said, and he and his supporters will pick up the tab.<\/p>\n

While hand counts have been largely limited to smaller towns, particularly in the Northeast, a few counties elsewhere have ditched machines in recent years. But hand-counting ballots in large, urban counties would take weeks. Experts say that studies have shown that machines are not only faster but more accurate than hand counts. Many election officials do rely on some measure of hand-counting, however, as part of their post-election process to verify that the machines worked correctly.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time the issue has surfaced in New Hampshire. Two years ago, the Legislature killed a bill that would have mandated hand-counting statewide, and nine towns rejected returning to hand-counting for their communities.<\/p>\n

In the latest go-round, many of the towns that debated the issue swiftly rejected it. In Meredith, not a single person spoke in favor of eliminating vote-counting machines.<\/p>\n

Nancy Jewell told the crowd of more than 500 that she\u2019d worked on elections for more than 40 years as a precinct warden and poll worker. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to say a few things about the old way, counting by hand,\u201d Jewell said. \u201cWe needed twice the workforce. First with the day shift, when the polls are open. And then with an entire different night shift to count all the ballots by hand, often not finishing until 5 or 6 o\u2019clock in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Tracy said at the meeting that he knew from personal experience that ballot-counting devices were accurate and secure and that nobody in New Hampshire had presented any credible evidence to support allegations of stolen votes or hackable machines.<\/p>\n

In Hopkinton, Laurie Pappas was one of three voters who spoke in favor of getting rid of the machines Thursday night. Mentioning Lindell in her remarks, she compared the current system to \u201csomeone screaming bingo and declaring they just won the jackpot, but no one is allowed to see their card.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHand counts equal election transparency,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Don Vickery, who said he is registered as an undeclared voter \u201cbecause there\u2019s no option for disgusted,\u201d was one of three voters who spoke against the measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our state, and our community, is capable of conducting fair and confident elections,\u201d he said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOPKINTON \u2014 Like the old saying about March itself, an orchestrated effort to get rid of vote-counting machines in New Hampshire this month came in like a lion and went out like a lamb.\u201cElectronic machines will face the wrath of New Hampshire voters…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":461,"featured_media":12754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"by [Author id=461]Nick Perry[\/Author] Associated Press, and [Author id=4]Holly Ramer[\/Author] Associated Press","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,508],"tags":[505],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[542,539],"class_list":["post-12753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-headlines-cm","tag-paywall","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/43228300-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/461"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12753"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12755,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12753\/revisions\/12755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12753"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=12753"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=12753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}