The machines that will count ballots in the Nov. 3 election are not connected to the internet and have been well vetted, the Secretary of State’s office said Wednesday in response to questions from ten legislators who think that more needs to be done to ensure the devices are secure.
Two brands of machines to count paper ballots are allowed in New Hampshire, made by the companies VotingWorks and Dominion. The machines, also used by more than two dozen other states, replace the aged AccuVote machines that were operated here for two decades.
More than 120 towns and cities use ballot-counting machines, with about 100 others still hand-counting ballots on election night. The machines are much faster than human ballot counting, and comparisons have shown they produce fewer errors. That speed will be useful next week, since Secretary of State David Scanlan predicts a record turnout of 635,000 voters for the midterm election, spurred by competitive races for governor, U.S. Senate and two Congressional seats, along with a tax cap question that is drawing considerable interest.
The state has long mandated that ballot-counting machines have no network capability — no wireless or other connection to the internet — to reduce the chance of hacking or a leak of early results. The Secretary of State’s office and the Ballot Law Commission, a legislative group that approves what devices can be used in local or state elections, say tests and testimony show that VotingWorks and Dominion both meet this requirement.
An Oct. 28 email from eight Republican and two Democratic state representatives argues that the state should be performing more physical inspections of machines on and after election day to ensure that they’re not transmitting information or somehow being controlled remotely without officials’ knowledge.
“Instead of being met with acknowledgement of the citizen concern and a plan to address it, the Secretary of State’s office advanced arguments to dismiss these issues. Those arguments do not close the gap,” the email argues.
In his response, Secretary of State David Scanlon wrote that the email “ignores reams of evidence” about the safety of the machines. He also notes that the mandated use of paper ballots ensures that every election has a guaranteed way to double-check the results without relying on the machines themselves.
The letter of concern sent to the New Hampshire Ballot Law Commission and Secretary of State was signed by Susan DeRoy, Richard Nalevanko, Glenn Bailey, Diane Kelley, Claudine Burham, Mary Murphy, Mary Ford, Tom Kaczynski, JD Bernardy and Michael Harrington.
