Harri Hursti, one of the auditors of Windham’s November, 2020 general election is spinning a narrative that the largest discrepancy in NH elections is an isolated issue to Windham. But is it really?
Hursti’s statement is contrary to what he said on Friday, when he made a statement that they can’t jump to conclusions before the audit is complete. It was also contrary to what fellow auditor Phillip Stark said on Saturday.
But by Monday afternoon (before the audit was complete), Hursti was on national news stating the issue is isolated to the Windham election – even though the audit is still on-going – and Hursti did not look at any evidence nor any data from any other town. Hmmmm… that does not reflect well for someone who should be making statements based only on scientific facts.
Nick Moseder was in NH this past weekend and spoke directly with Hursti and Stark while on-site at the audit in Pembroke. Hursti down played the seriousness of the issue. Phillip Stark expressed concerns.
Stark: The question here was, would the fold through St. Laurent’s vote target be interpreted as a mark which would generate an over vote in that contest so that none of the four [Republicans] would be counted. And we found rates of generating over votes from roughly 24/5 percent up to 72 percent.
Moseder: “So that’s a big problem.”
Stark: “It’s enormous!”
Moseder then asked Stark the question that the State of NH wants to ignore:
Moseder: “Do you think that that could be an issue that expands beyond Windham?”
Stark: “Yeah. If you have a fold through a vote target, these machines will presumably at some rate that may vary by a whole, depending on the state of maintenance of the machine.”
But Hursti appears driven to paint a narrative that steers voter concerns away from the potential that other towns may have the same type of irregularities that took place in the November Windham election.
“If the paper would have been folded where it was supposed to be folded none of this would have happened.”
But Moseder brings everyone back to laser focus.
Moseder: “But we cannot prevent people from folding it…”
Stark: “Sure, either voters or election officials…”
Moseder: :That is kind of explosive don’t you think?”
Stark: “Well, I mean, it certainly explains a lot this time around (nervous laugh).”
I believe it is irresponsible for Hursti to dismiss concerns that the Windham Incident did not happen in any other NH town. There is currently no evidence to back up that statement.
It is time for our legislature to step up and ensure the elections throughout the state were accurate. That everyone’s vote counted.
Here is Moseder’s report regarding why he believes a state-wide audit is necessary:
