Protesters gathered outside the Legislative Office Building in Concord, New Hampshire, to demand that human beings, not machines, should be responsible for counting ballots. Inside the building, top election officials oversaw a presentation of three new voting devices being considered for use in the 2024 elections.
The demonstration aimed to increase transparency and public confidence in the election process. Attendees had the opportunity to try out machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems, Election Systems & Software, and VotingWorks. While most votes in New Hampshire are currently tallied by machines, some small towns still rely on manual vote counting.
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan acknowledged that concerns had been raised about the accuracy of voting machines and the wisdom of using them. In an effort to address these concerns, the demonstration was intended to showcase the features of the new devices. Participants could cast pretend ballots featuring the names of prominent politicians from the past, and the machines would tabulate and produce a hard copy of the results.
The new devices, which cost between $6,000 and $7,000, share similarities with the aging AccuVote machines currently in use in New Hampshire. Voters will still fill out their ballots by hand, which will then be fed into the machines for tabulation. One key difference is that the new devices retain a digital image of each ballot, facilitating audits of election results.
While the AccuVote machines have been reliable over the past three decades, they are approaching the end of their useful life. Manufactured since 2007, parts for these machines are no longer available, making maintenance increasingly difficult.
Brenda L’Italien, director of business development at LHS Associates, the exclusive dealer for Dominion products in New England, demonstrated the Dominion Voting Systems device. She argued that hand counting of votes could potentially introduce more errors compared to machine counting. L’Italien also highlighted the fact that Dominion’s machines have undergone extensive audits and scrutiny following baseless claims that they switched votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Representing VotingWorks, Jessica Myers emphasized the open-source software used in their machines, which allows for public review. Unlike other companies, VotingWorks prioritizes transparency, making their code and documentation available for examination.
Election Systems & Software, showcased by Tucker Omel, works similarly to the other machines being considered. It accepts undervotes, wherein voters do not fill out all races, and produces a paper tape with the election’s vote totals.
Despite the availability of these new voting machines, a bill to require all votes in New Hampshire to be counted by hand did not advance in the N.H. Legislature this year. The protesters outside the Legislative Office Building voiced their preference for hand counting votes, expressing concerns about the potential hacking of voting machines.
Protester Brenda Towne questioned the security of voting machines, emphasizing the lack of security expertise among average town clerks who are responsible for managing the machines. Al Brandano, another protester, suggested that counting votes by hand, as done in many countries, could bring people from different political parties together and foster unity.
The State Ballot Law Commission will ultimately decide which one or two brands of machines will be authorized for future elections in New Hampshire. The aim is to replace the aging AccuVote machines with modern devices that retain the benefits of traditional voting methods while embracing technological advancements, such as digital ballot imaging.
