AccuVote Machines Pass 2022 New Hampshire Post-Primary Election Audit: Watch

CONCORD, NH — A new state law requires New Hampshire election officials to begin running audits on AccuVote optical scanning machines to ensure the accuracy of the three-decade-old machines used to count votes.

Officials were at the state archives building, where recounts are held, in Concord on Thursday to perform the audit. The process included a new ClearCount high-speed optical scanner and computer software by Clear Ballot. The company's optical scanners are used in several counties in Oregon and Washington, as well as a smattering of counties in Colorado, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The ballots were also hand-counted.

Officials requested all of the ballots cast in Hopkinton and Ward 1 in Laconia for the audit. David Scanlan, the secretary of state, said he picked both a town and a city near Concord.

Officials showed witnesses that the ballot boxes were sealed by the clerks in the two communities and opened the boxes. Moderators and state employees separated the ballots into batches of 25 to determine how many ballots there were from each community.

Orville “Bud” Fitch, an attorney with the secretary of state’s office, explained the law and the process, which included 19 fake ballots to see if the count would be accurate via a test run. After running the tests, the machines were cleared and the actual ballots were scanned.

According to officials, results from both communities passed the audit.

In Hopkinton, the AccuVote tape count at the end of voting on Sept. 13 posted 783 Democrat votes, while the hand count and Clear Ballot count posted 786. The town had 573 Republican tape count ballots, while the hand count and Clear Ballot machine counted 574.

The three-vote discrepancy with the Democrat ballots was expected, Fitch said, because the town moderator in Hopkinton warned officials three ballots were jammed in the machine. The moderator presumed the ballots were counted but warned that they may have not been.

It is unknown why there was a one-vote difference on the Republican side.

With the Laconia ballots, 209 Democrat ballots were cast, while 645 were cast in the Republican primary. The tape counts matched both the hand count and Clear Ballot counts, officials said.

The process will be repeated after the general election in November with two random communities.

To read the full report, visit this link on the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s website.

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