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New ballot-counting machines tested in spring voting were accurate, election officials say

Peter Basiliere (right) and Jonathan Kipp (left), town moderators for Milford and Londonderry, respectively, said the ballot counting machines that they used in March municipal elections counted votes accurately.
Jeongyoon Han
/
NHPR
Peter Basiliere (right) and Jonathan Kipp (left), town moderators for Milford and Londonderry, respectively, said the ballot counting machines they used in March municipal elections counted votes accurately.

New audit reports from the Secretary of State show that ballot machines piloted in this year’s spring municipal elections counted votes accurately, moving all of the vendors forward in the process to certify new machines in time for elections in 2024.

At a Ballot Law Commission meeting Wednesday, Deputy Secretary with the Bureau of Securities Regulation Eric Forcier said all the ballot counting devices used in the March elections had minor errors — but all within what are typical margins.

“I think all the vendors are excited to show New Hampshire all the great things that the machines can do if we're willing to take her along,” he said.

Four vendors are vying to gain certification from the Commission, which approves voting machines for elections in New Hampshire. The state wants to replace the current machines produced by AccuVote. Brad Cook, the chair of the Commission, said he hopes the group will select two machines at most. From there, municipalities would be able to decide which machines to purchase and use for their local races.

Milford, Ashland, Winchester and Londonderry piloted ballot machines produced by three different companies: Election Systems & Software (ES&S), Clear Ballot and Dominion Voting Systems. The machines will continue to be piloted in future elections. May elections in Moultonborough and Hanover will test VotingWorks and ES&S machines, respectively.

Milford used three machines from Dominion Voting. Peter Basiliere, the town’s moderator, said voting day happened without major hiccups.

“It went exceptionally well on Election Day. The voters almost unanimously didn’t have any comments, or had favorable comments,” he said.

He also said he’s certain the machines are accurate.

"I'd wager a gallon of maple syrup that anytime [it’s] off by one or two votes, it's still the human that's made the mistake and not the machine,” said Basiliere, who is also a maple syrup producer.

Secretary of State Dave Scanlan said he was impressed by the accuracy of the machines and by how vendors have taken his office’s feedback. He said that VotingWorks, for example, had gone back and reconfigured their ballot container hardware after local election officials noted ballot jams.

Scanlan said he believes the four vendors have machines that are accurate.

“I think all four have viable software components,” he said. “I think all four of them, in terms of software, will count New Hampshire ballots.”

To narrow down the search, Scanlan suggested creating a “matrix” to assess each of the machines and encouraged getting input from various groups, including local election officials, and members of the Commission and Secretary of State’s office.

“To prove we're going to get one of these devices, we should make sure that it meets the most up-to-date standards that are out there,” Scanlan said.

After the Secretary of State’s office provides its own recommendations, the Commission will have the final say on which vote counting machines are approved.

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Corrected: April 6, 2023 at 11:59 AM EDT
A previous version of this article misstated Eric Forcier’s title. It has been corrected to reflect that Forcier is the deputy secretary with the Bureau of Securities Regulation. 
Jeongyoon joins us from a stint at NPR in Washington, where she was a producer at Weekend Edition. She has also worked as an English teacher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, helped produce podcasts for Hong Kong Stories, and worked as a news assistant at WAMC Northeast Public Radio. She's a graduate of Williams College, where she was editor in chief of the college newspaper.
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