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Updated: August 27, 2022 @ 8:03 am
Sandown residents check in before voting at the Town Hall in 2017. The Board of Selectman this week denied a petition by a group of citizens to hold a special meeting to try and ban the use of voting machines in the town.
Sandown residents check in before voting at the Town Hall in 2017. The Board of Selectman this week denied a petition by a group of citizens to hold a special meeting to try and ban the use of voting machines in the town.
SANDOWN — The Board of Selectmen this week denied a petition by a group of citizens to hold a special meeting to try and ban the use of voting machines in the town.
It’s the third time the board heard the petition since July 11. The 51-signature petition called to implement hand-counting ballots in Sandown.
The petitioning residents argued a lack of voter confidence in the electoral system. Their complaints included beliefs in fraudulent votes, manipulation of the machines and referenced past problems in nearby communities.
Selectmen Chairman Jonathan Goldman said he believes this issue stems from the 2020 general election. A Windham election review found administrative shortcomings and significant inaccuracies in vote counts due to the processing of incorrectly folded ballots in that election.
“Our board is pretty aligned with how we feel the last presidential election went, but Sandown is not going to be ground zero for election reform in the state of New Hampshire or the country,” Goldman said.
“We’re not the only town,” Goldman said of residents voicing voter confidence concerns. “This has percolated in other towns in New Hampshire since then.”
The state recently announced election monitors will preside over the upcoming primary election in Windham and two other towns.
In a statement to The Eagle-Tribune, Secretary of State David Scanlan said, “The Secretary of State’s Office has noticed an increased trend in the last year among smaller towns petitioning to hold special town meetings to vote on whether or not they want to continue using ballot-counting machines. However, as of today, none of the towns that currently use ballot-counting machines have voted to ban them in favor of hand-counting.”
The special meeting the group calls for would cost the town $12,000, local officials said at the meeting. Goldman emphasized those costs and subsequent elections cost and election staffing.
“It’s not just a special meeting,” Goldman said. “It means another deliberative session. From there it’s an election. It’s not just hand-counting of ballots.”
Goldman has suggested to the group to petition a warrant article instead. He said it would give a better picture of what the town’s more than 4,000 registered voters feel.
“If they were to do a petition for a warrant article and force it on the ballot in March, that’s a regular voting day,” Goldman said. “In a regularly scheduled election, you’re getting a much better representation of what the people want.”
Vice Chairman Tom Tombarello sympathized with the notions brought forward, saying if the hand-counting request went to a warrant article and the voting majority wanted to ban voting machines, he’d do it because “voter confidence is at an all-time low.”
During the meeting, 30-year resident Sheila Lowes also raised the option of a warrant article petition, but said she doesn’t understand why this issue with voting machines was presented in the first place. Lowes said towns such as Windham and Bedford had problems, but Sandown hasn’t had cause for concern in all the years she’s voted.
“We didn’t have a problem in Sandown with our counting,” Lowes said. “Why are we coming up with an answer to a problem we don’t have?”
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First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.