Posted on Mar 8, 2022
As misinformation swirls, many N.H. towns will vote on ballot counting machines
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https://www.npr.org/2022/03/08/ [login to see] /as-misinformation-swirls-many-n-h-towns-will-vote-on-ballot-counting-machines
Voters in the town of Milton, N.H., will this week be asked to weigh in on more than 30 different local issues, things like the school budget, the next fire chief and even the type of lightbulbs used in streetlamps.
But another item on Milton's town meeting ballot could reshape the town's election process itself: Residents will decide whether election officials should continue using a ballot counting machine, known as the AccuVote, or revert to a hand count.
Milton is one of more than a dozen New Hampshire communities voting on vote-counting this town meeting season, after activists who question the accuracy and security of the state's ballot counting machines launched a campaign to ditch them.
The activists behind the push to hand-count all ballots contend, without proof, that the machines can be hacked or rigged, and their effort follows baseless claims of widespread issues with the 2020 election.
State and local election officials say the AccuVote — the only approved ballot counting machine in New Hampshire — has proven itself reliable at the polls and in an exhaustive outside audit held last spring.
Voters in the town of Milton, N.H., will this week be asked to weigh in on more than 30 different local issues, things like the school budget, the next fire chief and even the type of lightbulbs used in streetlamps.
But another item on Milton's town meeting ballot could reshape the town's election process itself: Residents will decide whether election officials should continue using a ballot counting machine, known as the AccuVote, or revert to a hand count.
Milton is one of more than a dozen New Hampshire communities voting on vote-counting this town meeting season, after activists who question the accuracy and security of the state's ballot counting machines launched a campaign to ditch them.
The activists behind the push to hand-count all ballots contend, without proof, that the machines can be hacked or rigged, and their effort follows baseless claims of widespread issues with the 2020 election.
State and local election officials say the AccuVote — the only approved ballot counting machine in New Hampshire — has proven itself reliable at the polls and in an exhaustive outside audit held last spring.
As misinformation swirls, many N.H. towns will vote on ballot counting machines
Posted from npr.org
Voting
Elections
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Election 2020
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The activists behind the push to hand-count all ballots contend, without proof, that the machines can be hacked or rigged, and their effort follows baseless claims of widespread issues with the 2020 election.
State and local election officials say the AccuVote — the only approved ballot counting machine in New Hampshire — has proven itself reliable at the polls and in an exhaustive outside audit held last spring.
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Georgia's race to oversee voting pits an election denier against an election defender
Towns in New Hampshire decide how they want to count votes. According to the secretary of state's office, 114 communities continue to hand-count, but they represent just about 10% of the state's voters.
For many towns, the decision to use a ballot counting machine comes down to speed, the availability of Election Day workers and expectations of residents.
"We live in an instantaneous world, and everybody seems to want the answer now, or five minutes after polls close," said Chris Jacobs, Milton's town administrator. "If you hand-count, there will be no instantaneous decision."
"We want the machines out"
AccuVotes, which have been in use since the late 1980s, are decidedly low-tech: They plug into the wall for electricity but don't connect to the internet; they rely on memory cards that get programmed before each election by a locally based vendor.
For decades, the machines were widely seen as efficient workhorses of the democratic process. But after the 2020 election, when some supporters of President Donald Trump began looking for scapegoats to blame his election loss on, the AccuVotes came under fire.
In hearings at the State House and more recently during town deliberative sessions, opponents of the machines have alleged they can be hacked, rigged or otherwise compromised. Some Republican lawmakers, backed by the same activists pushing the bans at a town level, have proposed banning the machines statewide.
"It is shocking to me that we would allow machines to wipe away the voices of the citizens of New Hampshire," Brenda Towne, a resident of the town of Stratham, said during public testimony on one such bill earlier this year. "We want the machines out."
There is no evidence the machines have wiped out votes."...
..."The activists behind the push to hand-count all ballots contend, without proof, that the machines can be hacked or rigged, and their effort follows baseless claims of widespread issues with the 2020 election.
State and local election officials say the AccuVote — the only approved ballot counting machine in New Hampshire — has proven itself reliable at the polls and in an exhaustive outside audit held last spring.
Georgia's race to oversee voting pits an election denier against an election defender
POLITICS
Georgia's race to oversee voting pits an election denier against an election defender
Towns in New Hampshire decide how they want to count votes. According to the secretary of state's office, 114 communities continue to hand-count, but they represent just about 10% of the state's voters.
For many towns, the decision to use a ballot counting machine comes down to speed, the availability of Election Day workers and expectations of residents.
"We live in an instantaneous world, and everybody seems to want the answer now, or five minutes after polls close," said Chris Jacobs, Milton's town administrator. "If you hand-count, there will be no instantaneous decision."
"We want the machines out"
AccuVotes, which have been in use since the late 1980s, are decidedly low-tech: They plug into the wall for electricity but don't connect to the internet; they rely on memory cards that get programmed before each election by a locally based vendor.
For decades, the machines were widely seen as efficient workhorses of the democratic process. But after the 2020 election, when some supporters of President Donald Trump began looking for scapegoats to blame his election loss on, the AccuVotes came under fire.
In hearings at the State House and more recently during town deliberative sessions, opponents of the machines have alleged they can be hacked, rigged or otherwise compromised. Some Republican lawmakers, backed by the same activists pushing the bans at a town level, have proposed banning the machines statewide.
"It is shocking to me that we would allow machines to wipe away the voices of the citizens of New Hampshire," Brenda Towne, a resident of the town of Stratham, said during public testimony on one such bill earlier this year. "We want the machines out."
There is no evidence the machines have wiped out votes."...
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