How are votes counted in New Hampshire primary?

Margie Cullen, Portsmouth Herald
·4 min read
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On Tuesday, Jan. 23, votes cast in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary will be counted by voting machines, election officials and volunteers. This primary, the counting may look a little different with an increase in write-in votes expected on the Democratic ballot.

Read on to learn more about how votes are counted in New Hampshire, with information from the secretary of state.

How are votes counted in New Hampshire?

In New Hampshire, communities can choose to use machine counting of ballots or count by hand. Most use machine counting because it's faster and more accurate. Ballot counting devices count all properly marked races (meaning the oval is filled in) except for write-in votes.

However, over 100 communities in New Hampshire haven't switched to machines and still hand count their ballots. In addition, not all votes can be counted by machines: Write-in votes and ballots where the voter has marked their choice in a different way than filling in the oval, such as circling their chosen candidate’s name, require hand counting. In these situations, the town's election moderator, who is chosen every two years by vote, makes the decision for how these ballots will be hand counted.

With coronavirus safety precautions in place, the "I Voted" stickers were self-serve only this year at the Portsmouth polls.
With coronavirus safety precautions in place, the "I Voted" stickers were self-serve only this year at the Portsmouth polls.

How are votes hand counted in New Hampshire?

The most common, most accurate, and easiest method of hand counting is the “sort-and-stack” method. In this method, ballots are sorted into piles: one for each candidate, ballots with more than one choice marked, ballots with skipped choices, write-ins, and judgment calls. Then, counters and observers look through each pile, making sure they are only looking at one candidate or question on the ballot at the time. Each ballot is then checked three times and when the counters have agreed on the number of votes for each candidate, they enter it on the tally sheet.

Another hand counting methods is the “Read-and-mark” method, in which counting teams count all races and questions in one pile of 50 ballots at a time, marking a tally sheet as they go.

More details on these hand counting methods can be found in the Counting and Recounts section in the 2022-23 New Hampshire Election Procedure Manual.

How are write-in votes counted in New Hampshire?

This year President Joe Biden is not on the New Hampshire primary ballot, but due to a write-in campaign being run on his behalf, more write-in votes than usual are expected this year. These votes will be hand counted.

New Hampshire’s state law and a Supreme Court decision require write-in votes to be counted based on what the voter’s intent was.

“[D]etermine a voter’s intent by giving weight to all marks placed on the ballot, regardless of the method by which the voter chose to cast a vote,” reads the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s decision.

In the case of write-ins for Biden, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan has indicated variations of Biden’s name, such as a misspelling like Joe Bidon, President Biden, or Joe and Kamala, as well as write-in votes that fail to fill in the bubble, will be counted.

However, write-in votes for Biden on a Republican ballot will not be counted. New Hampshire’s Election Procedure Manual states that write-in votes will only count toward that candidate in the party the voter received a ballot for.

How are votes counted in a recount?

There are no automatic recounts required in New Hampshire, and election officers are directed to try to avoid errors that would call for a recount. However, a candidate can request a recount if the difference between the votes cast for the requesting candidate and the candidate declared elected is less than 20 percent of the total votes cast.

If a recount request is approved, the ballots from election night will be counted by the secretary of state’s team, one Democrat volunteer counter, and one Republican volunteer counter. They will recount by hand and each ballot will be looked at under a camera, by ballot challengers, and by observers.

State officials say the recount process is intended to be open and transparent. Anyone who is interested in seeing the process is allowed to attend the recount.

When will all the votes be counted?

Scanlan believes that results will be announced on election night, regardless of an increase in write-in votes.

However, it’s possible that Republican results may be released earlier than Democratic results if counting write-in votes takes longer than expected.

Some towns also share unofficial results as the count is ongoing. These results may not yet include all the write-in ballots and those where the bubble was not filled in.

Check out our voter guide to read about the candidates and their views.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: How are votes counted in New Hampshire primary?