When New Hampshire voters head to the polls in November 2024, they could slip their ballots into new counting devices — if state election officials move forward as planned.

New Hampshire’s Ballot Law Commission plans on making recommendations later this year for certifying one or two new machines to replace the state’s aging AccuVote devices, which are no longer in production.

“I would expect we would meet late August, early September, and have the selection process narrowed by Election Day in November,” said Brad Cook, chairman of the commission, which certifies devices for the state. He said the new units would likely not be used until the 2024 general elections.

Three manufacturers of ballot counting machines made their pitch to New Hampshire voting officials Wednesday in Concord, as the state seeks to select a new model for upcoming elections.

Representatives for Dominion, Election Systems and Software, and the nonprofit VotingWorks brought their respective ballot counters to a legislative building in Concord, where officials and members of the public had the ability to kick the tires on what could replace the AccuVote machine.

“It will be interesting to see what the feedback is,” Cook added.

Company representatives gave presentations on how the machines operate, how they secure and scan ballots, and how municipal election officials can navigate potential issues — including paper jams.

Cook, with the Ballot Law Commission, said about 325 AccuVotes are currently in use across the state. The manufacturer, however, stopped producing replacement parts in 2012, and the unit’s software is based on outdated Microsoft operating software.

Most larger municipalities use AccuVotes, though around 100 smaller communities continue to tally election results by hand, representing about 10% of all votes cast.

LHS Associates, a Salem-based company that programs and services the AccuVotes, says it will only be able to continue supporting the machines for a finite length of time. Jeff Silvestro, the company’s president, is hoping the state will select its new offering, a machine produced by Dominion.

At times during Silvestro’s presentation of the Dominion device on Wednesday, conservative activists who oppose the use of ballot counting devices asked about the constitutionality of using machines, and whether or not any parts were manufactured in China. These questions led to short but spirited responses from local election officials in the audience, who defended the use of counting machines.

The AccuVote doesn’t connect to the Internet and has never been linked to any proven fraud. The machines did come under scrutiny after counting errors were reported in Windham in 2020. A detailed audit determined the problem stemmed from improperly folded ballots that were misread by the machine’s optical scanner.

As former President Donald Trump and some of his supporters amplified false claims that ballot machines were “rigged” following the 2020 election, lawmakers in Concord held lengthy public hearings over whether the state should outlaw ballot counting devices. Ultimately, the Legislature sided with local election officials who say hand counts in larger municipalities would delay election results and would be more prone to errors than machine counts. A bipartisan group of lawmakers agreed to implement a system of audits to confirm the accuracy of devices.

Local activists also organized ballot initiatives in more than a dozen communities to prohibit the use of machines, though none of those efforts were approved by voters.

Ben Jellison, town moderator for Carroll, said they’ve had “very good luck” with the AccuVote. Reflecting after the Dominion presentation, he said the newer machines, though, appeared to have extra layers of protection against tampering.

“This obviously has more security measures, which we like to see,” said Jellison.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org. 

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