Note: Articles 39 and 40 are essentially identical, and will be discussed as one. For comparison, Article 40 is also provided below, but not expanded upon.
To the Town/City of Hampton- We, the undersigned duly registered voters in the Town/City of Hampton, New Hampshire herby petition and apply for the insertion of the following petitioned warrant article:
“Shall the following provisions pertaining to elections be adopted? All voting shall be by paper ballot and all ballots shall be hand counted only, rather than use by optical scanning or any other types of programmable electronic counting devices.”
This shall also constitute an application for RSA 656:40 stating ballot counting machines were adopted on a trial basis, so we wish to return to manual hand counting by citizens.
What it means: The current system of voting in Hampton is done by paper ballots which are counted by optical scanners. This Article, if passed, would revert to the manual counting of votes by citizens.
Those in favor say:
- Current method of scanning votes was adopted on a trial basis.
- ⅓ of New Hampshire towns still count by hand.
- A complete audit of the machine count has never been done to prove accuracy.
- Current machines are old and repaired using non original manufacturer parts since they are no longer manufactured.
- Current software used has not been updated in a decade and is unsupported.
- We rely on a third party entity to program the machines with no government oversight.
- Manual counting can be done by concerned volunteer citizens who have an interest in the integrity of the vote.
Those against say:
- No proof that hand counting would be more accurate.
- More chance of human error and uncertainty in elections.
- Voting location would need to be changed as ballot counting would need to be completed before ballots are moved. Process could take several days. The current location for voting must be turned back to school purposes and could not be dedicated to counting for days.
- Number of volunteers needed could exceed 100 year after year.
- Current scanners are tested for accuracy prior to each election.
- Partial audits have been completed in the past for close elections, and never has the manual count changed an outcome.
- Current scanners are not connected to the internet or bluetooth enabled.
Fiscal impact: There is no taxpayer cost associated with this Article.
ARTICLE 40 IS A DUPLICATE OF ARTICLE 39. WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO VOTE FOR ARTICLE 39, DO THE SAME FOR ARTICLE 40.
Article 40 – Voting by Paper Ballot and All Ballots to be Hand-Counted
To the Town/City of HAMPTON- We, the undersigned duly registered voters in the Town/City of HAMPTON, New Hampshire, herby petition and apply for the insertion of the following petitioned warrant article:
“Shall the following provisions pertaining to elections be adopted? All voting shall be by paper ballot; and all ballots shall be hand counted only, rather than use by optical scanning or any other types of programmable electronic counting devices.”