State calls out Windham for election flaws

Jan. 20—WINDHAM — The town's procedures stemming from a 2020 election, and how the process will be handled moving forwarded, are being watched by state officials.

The town has had many eyes on how its Nov. 3, 2020 General Election. and the state is now calling out Windham for errors made.

In a letter sent earlier this month to Windham's town attorney from the offices of New Hampshire's Secretary of State and Attorney General, state officials laid out a list of election faults and discrepancies on the part of the town of Windham.

As a result, the state will appoint an election monitor for the Sept. 13 primary election.

Windham's November 2020 election and the results tallied started a process that included a state recount and subsequent three-week forensic election audit where a team of experts analyzed every aspect of the town's voting tallies, ballot machine operation and how town officials handled ballots, counted absentee votes and sealed ballot securely at the end of the day.

Windham's vote counts during that Nov. 3 General Election gave the four Republican candidates in the Rockingham County District 7 representative race the top tallies and the win, but only 24 votes originally separated GOP candidate Julius Soti from Democrat Kristi St. Laurent, who then requested a recount.

The state's recount gave the GOP candidates nearly 300 more votes each, but St. Laurent lost 99.

Gov. Chris Sununu then signed Senate Bill 43 allowing a forensic audit of Windham's election process to begin.

The audit started May 11 at the Edward Cross Training Center in Pembroke.

Over the course of the three-week time frame, auditors hand-counted Windham's 10,006 ballots cast Nov. 3, scanned documents, and paid attention to matching numbers, ballot batches and machine counts. The inner workings of Windham's four AccuVote machines were analyzed.

Paper ballots were forensically reviewed using a microscope, micrometer, and UV light to determine whether they were genuine printed ballots, and whether any folds were manual or machine-made.

The team announced they discovered the primary cause of the discrepancy to be folds through vote targets on some absentee ballots, attributed to the use of a leased folding machine.

The audit report also said the state recount of the District 7 state representative race was accurate.

The Attorney General and Secretary of State reviewed the audit findings and the Ballot Law Commission received the audit report as well.

The recent letter said that there may still be some questions about the outcomes and numbers.

"Unfortunately, it appears that some town officials are still critical of the state recount and describe it inaccurately, including in testimony to the Ballot Law Commission," the letter states.

"It is important to clarify that the results of the state's November recount were nearly identical to the results of the forensic audit. The total difference between the state's recount and the forensic audit was five votes out of more than 10,000. The state's recount was conducted according to long-used and long-proven protocols and returned a result consistent with that of the forensic audit."

The letter went on for several more pages laying out a litany of procedures deemed "flawed" on the town's side, saying "town election officials cut corners."

"Some of those shortcuts created errors — such as using an uncalibrated folding machine — which were unintentional and perhaps unforeseeable, but ultimately resulted in ballots not being accurately counted."

According to the letter, Windham officials also made other errors on election night, including the use of only six test ballots instead of the recommended 50, and ignoring other legal obligations that were "indicative of an election that was not executed to the standard of the law or expectations of voters."

Windham town officials responded to the letter, saying even before the Jan. 7 note arrived, the town was working on improved procedures for future elections.

"We are committed to ensure that future elections are accurate and efficient, and follow all statutes, regulations and recommended procedures," said Town Moderator Peter Griffin.

Griffin added that for every election in recent years, a representative from the Attorney General's office has conducted an audit during the day of the election.

"Each one of these inspections has resulted in an excellent report, with Windham being described as a model operation," Griffin said. "Even still, the unprecedented audit and subsequent investigation showed that there were deficiencies in procedures during the November 2020 election."

State Sen. Regina Birdsell (R-Hampstead), agreed with the state's findings and conclusions. Birdsell's District 19 also includes Windham.

"I have read the letter from Secretary of State Gardner and Attorney General Formella sent to the town of Windham regarding multiple failures that occurred when votes were counted in the November 2020 General Election. I accept their findings concerning the errors with vote counts, test ballots and ballot storage. The procedural and manual failures that the letter lays out are unacceptable," Birdsell said in a statement.

She added, "I am extremely disappointed with what happened in Windham and support the recommendations made by the Secretary of State and Attorney General. I hope the town understands the gravity of what it means to have the Attorney General's office monitoring its elections and that Windham officials will take the appropriate actions to prevent these errors from happening in the future."

Griffin reiterated that the town of Windham looks forward to making sure elections are done accurately.

He said, "In future elections we look forward to working with the state appointed monitor to ensure complete confidence in our election processes and results."