What is going on with the “election integrity”? Why aren’t there more folks asking that question?

I have been overseeing elections in Hollis for a very long time. As Hollis Selectman 1988-1993, Coop District Moderator 1995-2010, Assistant Town Moderator 1996-2010, Hollis School Moderator 2001-2010 and 2020-2021, Hollis Town Moderator 2010-2020, I’ve got a cumulative 57 years of election oversight. So, how do I feel about election integrity? It could not be better! How do I feel about Accu-Vote counting machines? They are simply great because they are not susceptible to outside tampering to manipulate the votes and are a tremendous time saver for folks who volunteer to help in the “after election” work. The cards in those machines are pre-programmed for our individual election ballots and are not changeable after programming. Do we have confidence in their programming? Absolutely not.

That’s why, a few days before the election, the town clerk and moderator TEST those cards and machines. Each machine to be used at the election is tested with marked-up sample ballots, sometimes up to 50 of them. The markings are random. Some are over-votes, some under-votes, some write-ins, and some blank. The ballots are fed through each machine using every single pre-programmed card and the results are inspected. If the results don’t match the randomly marked ballots, the reason is inspected and most times it’s due to a “mark” not being made appropriately. But, that same error shows up on every machine using every card. Now, comes the election. When the results are so close that a question of the winner arises, that race is hand counted. Now, tell me, how much more diligence can one interject?

The machine counts are often more accurate than the hand counts. Now, let’s talk about removing those machines and reverting to hand counting. Election staff know the polls will be open (in Hollis) from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. So, they arrive about 6 a.m. to get things ready to go. Polls officially close at 7 p.m., but those still in line or actively coming to the polling station, in view of the moderator, are allowed to vote.

Once the polls close, the hard work begins. Even with vote counting machines, there is so much work to be done. The machines put write-in ballots in a separate bin as well as the blank and questionable ballots. Those are pulled out and hand counted. The number of folks on the checklist who received a ballot are compared with the total ballots. We are not even considering, here, the folks who refuse to show an ID, who are registering for the first time, who select a party for the primary and want to return to undeclared status, etc.

The time required of election workers after the polls close usually extends close to midnight. So, based on some cooked-up fears being promoted for who knows what reason, Hollis election workers are being asked to do away with reliable counting machines and revert to hand counting? That type of vote counting would continue until the next day; do you know anyone from the community who will volunteer to count until then? I don’t, and there’s no reason for us to make it that difficult to run our elections. If results in ANY race comes within say 10%, the moderator usually calls for a hand count, just as a hand count for write-ins are done as normal practice.

Where are we headed in this fever to change our election process? We are introducing suspicion where none is warranted. Creating untested procedures means experienced poll workers will have questions and if we undo what we know works, election integrity is the casualty. Why are we listening to those outside the process who are pushing for more

uncertainty?

My comment: Leave Hollis’ elections alone! Town election officials are honest, hard-working and can vouch for the accuracy of the vote. I ought to know, as one who ran for Hollis Selectman and conceded a race that I lost by ONE vote. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.