- Many New Hampshire voters will use ballot scanners that are at least 15 years old in the upcoming primary.
- Election experts say the aging scanners pose no new security risks, but their age and potential for failure raise concerns.
- As a small city, Franklin doesn't have any backup machines, so if it breaks down, it will be counted manually.
As New Hampshire voters cast their ballots in the nation's first primary on Tuesday, many were using scanners that are at least 15 years old, including some that may date back to President Bill Clinton's time. There is.
Election experts say the aging AccuVote ballot tabulation machines used in about half of the state's towns and cities pose no additional safety risks. Their age is a concern.
With the supply of replacement parts dwindling, failures could cause headaches for local election officials on Election Day, potentially forcing them to count ballots by hand and reducing the results. reporting may be delayed. In recent years, malfunctions and vote-counting delays in other states have sometimes been used to fuel conspiracy theories that undermine public confidence in voting, even though there is no evidence of widespread problems with voting machines.
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Franklin, a small city about 20 miles north of the state capital, doesn't have much room to act if something goes wrong with the scanner.
Notary Public Nick Zacharias in Derry, New Hampshire, loads a test ballot into a vote tabulation machine during machine testing at the Derry Municipal Center before New Hampshire's primary election on January 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
“We have three machines, three polling places. That's it. We have no backup,” said Olivia Zink, a Franklin City Council member and executive director of the Coalition for Open Democracy, a voter advocacy group. . “If any of them go down, we count them by hand.”
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Zink, who will be working at a local polling place on Tuesday, said she is not as concerned about hand counting, even with strong turnout among the 4,500 registered voters, because the ballots only include the presidential primary. He said no. She called on everyone to be patient despite delays in results. One potential problem: If it's snowing or raining, a wet ballot can cause the ballot scanner to malfunction.
“If it's a sunny, beautiful day, we're in great shape,” Zink said.
What reduces the potential for major disruptions is the voting itself, with only one race and the state's requirement that vote-counting operations continue uninterrupted until the race is over. New Hampshire will hold primary elections for state and local elections later this year.
Every New Hampshire voter marks their ballot by hand, but how that ballot is counted varies by city and town. Just under half choose to count by hand and have done so for years, and they are among the least populated areas in the state. Most ballots cast within the state are counted electronically using AccuVote scanners, as the most populous towns and cities use mechanical tabulation machines.
The same type of ballot scanner is also used in local voting jurisdictions in five other states, according to Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group that tracks voting equipment in the United States.
“You can call it a primitive technology, and you can also call it a simple and reliable technology. Both can be true,” said Mark Lindemann, the group's director of policy and strategy.
He said New Hampshire's tabulation machines are in good condition and the biggest challenge for election officials is finding replacement parts. In a worst-case scenario, he envisions local election officials having to resort to hand counting because the counting machines fail and they can't access backup.
“There's a worst-case scenario, but it's a pretty good case,” Lindemann said. “Ballots are secure. This will not prevent New Hampshire voters from voting or their votes from being counted.”
Still, any problems with voting machines or vote-counting equipment can create an opening for those who want to question the results. Former President Donald Trump, who won this week's Iowa caucuses but could face an even tougher test in New Hampshire, regularly suggested the close election would be “rigged.” are doing.
His false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden sparked a tsunami of conspiracy theories about voting machines.
“If there is a major failure and the results are very delayed, and the public is not informed in advance of what we may be hand-counting and what that entails, then the worst-case scenario is That leaves a vacuum and can confuse people. Bring up conspiracy theories and question what the consequences are,” said Mackenzie St. of the voter advocacy group America Votes NH.・Mr. Germain said.
In Derry, south of Manchester, city worker Tina Guilford tested eight tabulation machines this week to ensure they were working properly and counting ballots correctly. The process is being repeated across the state as local election officials prepare for primaries.
Derry's tabulation tools are roughly early 20th century technology, and each is 20 to 22 years old, Guilford said. The town agreed to purchase a replacement that officials hope will be in place by March, when the new tabulation machines will be certified for use in the state.
The city of Derry, which has about 20,000 registered voters, doesn't need all eight AccuVote scanners running at the same time, so if one goes down, it still has options, Guilford said. Hand sanitizer has previously gotten on machines in 2020 during the pandemic.
“I don't foresee any problems,” she said.
New Hampshire's top elections official, Secretary of State David Scanlan, said he is encouraging local officials to ensure they have enough personnel to handle any hand counts that may be needed. Stated.
In light of Biden's decision to skip the state's primary in favor of a Democratic rescheduling that placed South Carolina higher than Iowa and New Hampshire, jurisdictions will have to manually process some votes. It is expected that it will have to be counted. This has led to an active write-in campaign against him, and ballots for write-in candidates must be counted by hand.
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In recent years, hand counting has gained support among those promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election that call for a ban on voting machines and electronic tabulation machines. Manual counts are used in some parts of the country, but usually in smaller jurisdictions where the process is manageable.
Last year, the New Hampshire Legislature rejected a proposal to require all votes to be counted by hand.
Experts say studies show the machines are not only faster, but also more accurate. Many election officials rely on some sort of manual calculation as part of the post-election process to ensure machines are working properly.
Scanlan said he urges voters to understand that it's not unusual for some machines to have problems, and election officials are working to address them, even if it means delaying the release of results. He emphasized that there are plans to do so.
“That's what happens in any election,” he said. “We expect this election to be no different than any other election we have held in the past.”
