World Courant
Many New Hampshire voters will use poll scanners which are a minimum of 15 years outdated within the upcoming main.Election consultants say the growing older scanners do not pose further safety dangers, however considerations come up attributable to age and potential breakdowns.Franklin, a small metropolis, has no backup machines, and if one breaks down, they resort handy counting.
When New Hampshire voters solid their ballots in Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation main, many will accomplish that utilizing scanners which are a minimum of 15 years outdated — with some probably relationship again to Invoice Clinton’s presidency.
Election consultants say the growing older AccuVote poll tabulators in use throughout roughly half the state’s cities and cities don’t pose further safety dangers. The priority is their age.
With a dwindling provide of substitute elements, breakdowns may create Election Day complications for native election officers, who may be pressured to rely ballots by hand — a course of that might delay reporting their outcomes. Malfunctions and ballot-counting delays in different states lately have generally been used to advertise conspiracy theories that undermine public confidence within the vote, regardless of no proof of any widespread issues with voting machines.
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Franklin, a small metropolis about 20 miles north of the state capital, has no wiggle room if one thing goes awry with its scanners.
Nick Zaharias of Derry, N.H., a public witness, masses a take a look at poll onto a vote counting machine whereas testing machines earlier than the New Hampshire main on the Derry Municipal Heart on Jan. 16, 2024. (AP Photograph/Charles Krupa)
“We have now three machines and three polling locations. That’s it, no backup,” mentioned Olivia Zink, a member of the Franklin Metropolis Council who is also government director of the voter advocacy group Coalition for Open Democracy. “If one goes down, we hand rely.”
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Zink, who shall be working at her native polling place Tuesday, mentioned she is much less fearful about hand counting even when turnout is powerful among the many 4,500 registered voters as a result of the poll comprises solely the presidential main. She urged everybody to be affected person if outcomes are delayed. One potential glitch: If it’s snowy or wet, damp ballots can mess up a poll scanner.
“If it’s a sunny, stunning day, we’re in nice form,” Zink mentioned.
Lowering the possibilities of a serious disruption is the poll itself, with only a single race and a state requirement that vote counting proceed uninterrupted till completed. New Hampshire will maintain primaries for state and native races later within the 12 months.
All New Hampshire voters mark their poll by hand, however how these ballots are counted depends upon town or city. Just below half decide handy rely and have completed so for years, however these are among the many least populated within the state. Essentially the most populous cities and cities use machine tabulators, so most ballots solid within the state are counted electronically utilizing the AccuVote scanners.
The identical sort of poll scanners are utilized by native voting jurisdictions in 5 different states, in accordance with Verified Voting, a nonpartisan group that tracks U.S. voting gear.
“You would say it’s primitive expertise. You would say it’s easy and dependable expertise. Each of these issues will be true,” mentioned Mark Lindeman, the group’s coverage and technique director.
He mentioned New Hampshire’s tabulators have been saved in good situation and that the most important problem for election officers is discovering substitute elements. He sees the worst-case state of affairs as native election officers having to resort handy counting as a result of a tabulator has failed they usually don’t have entry to a backup.
“As worst instances go, that’s a reasonably good one,” Lindeman mentioned. “The ballots are secure. This won’t forestall New Hampshire voters from voting or forestall New Hampshire voters from having their votes counted.”
Even so, any issues with voting machines or poll counting units present a gap for individuals who wish to solid doubt on the result. Former President Donald Trump, who gained this week’s Iowa caucuses however faces a probably harder take a look at in New Hampshire, usually alerts that an anticipated shut election shall be “rigged.”
His false claims about widespread fraud within the 2020 election, which he misplaced to Joe Biden, has produced a tsunami of conspiracy theories about voting machines.
“If there are main failures and outcomes come actually late, and if there may be not data forward of time to the general public that we may be hand-counting and what that entails — in a worst-case state of affairs the vacuum that leaves may enable people to come back ahead with conspiracy theories and query what the outcomes are,” mentioned McKenzie St. Germain with the voter advocacy group America Votes NH.
In Derry, south of Manchester, City Clerk Tina Guilford examined her eight tabulators this week to make sure they had been working correctly and counting ballots appropriately. It’s a course of being repeated throughout the state as native election officers put together for the first.
Derry’s tabulators are roughly turn-of-the-century expertise — every about 20 to 22 years outdated, Guilford mentioned. The city agreed to purchase replacements that officers hope shall be in place by March when new tabulators shall be licensed to be used within the state.
Derry, with its almost 20,000 registered voters, doesn’t want all eight AccuVote scanners operating on the identical time, in order that they have choices if one had been to be taken out of service, Guilford mentioned. It has occurred earlier than, when hand sanitizer gummed up a machine in 2020 through the pandemic.
“I don’t foresee any points,” she mentioned.
Secretary of State David Scanlan, New Hampshire’s high election official, mentioned he has been encouraging native officers to ensure they’ve sufficient workers to deal with any hand counting which may be obligatory.
It’s anticipated that each jurisdiction must rely some ballots by hand given Biden’s resolution to skip the state’s main in favor of a revamped Democratic schedule that elevated South Carolina over Iowa and New Hampshire. That has prompted a write-in marketing campaign for him, and any ballots with write-in candidates must be tallied by hand.
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In recent times, hand counting has gained favor amongst these pushing conspiracy theories in regards to the 2020 election as they search to ban voting machines and digital tabulators. Whereas hand counting is utilized in some elements of the nation, it often happens in small jurisdictions the place the method is manageable.
Final 12 months, New Hampshire lawmakers rejected a proposal that will have required all votes to be counted by hand.
Consultants say not solely are machines quicker, however research have proven they’re extra correct. Many election officers do depend on some measure of hand counting as a part of their post-election course of to confirm that the machines labored appropriately.
Scanlan mentioned he has been encouraging voters to know that it’s common for some machines to have issues and careworn that election officers have plans to cope with it, even when it means a delay in releasing outcomes.
“That simply occurs in any election,” he mentioned. “I’d anticipate that this election goes to be no completely different than every other election we’ve performed previously.”
Issues rise over growing older voting scanners in New Hampshire’s main
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