BIG NEWS! Late Thursday evening, the NH Secretary of State agreed to a “Windham Incident” solution that delivers everything we want! A complete forensic audit of Windham’s voting machines AND ballots!
Related: What the Heck Happened In Windham’s November Election? – Part 3
Nineteen hours before the House Election Law Committee hearing was scheduled to hear Senate Bill SB43, I called Secretary of State Bill Gardner to ask him about his concerns and see if we could find a common solution to this serious issue. It was 3:40pm on Thursday, March 4, 2021. To my surprise, Secretary Gardner picked up the phone and we had an honest and very cordial three hour conversation that found each of us describing specific concerns and finding specific solutions to each of them. It was a fruitful, informative and enjoyable conversation.
When Secretary Gardner said that he would support a full and complete forensic audit of the machines AND the ballots (details below), I knew we found common ground. Secretary Gardner went on to explain his reluctance of the Secretary of State’s office to perform an “audit” of the Rockingham County District 7 State Rep race because he considered it to be a recount of a recount – which is prohibited by law, and would set a bad precedent. I did not see that as an issue because the forensic audit of the ballots would provide thorough answers as to where the discrepancies took place.
Others were then brought into the conversation that triggered a few back and forth phone calls that continued until almost midnight.
Once the audits are completed, the forensic team will deliver a report of their findings, recommended procedures and remedies. Everything we want to know. Nothing would be overlooked regarding vote tallies and machine performance (software, memory cards, hardware).
Secretary Bill Gardner deserves a tremendous amount of credit for taking my call and agreeing to perform these audits that will hopefully provide all NH citizens the answers to the enormous discrepancy between Windham’s General Election Day results and the hand recount 9 days later. At the very least… NH, and America, will know if Windham’s voting machines worked properly during the November 3, 2020 General Election.
State Senator Bob Giuda, Dr. David Strang, and Windham resident Tom Murray also deserve tremendous credit for the herculean effort to get to this point. NH House Election Law Committee Chair Barbara Griffin was also a key player in bringing the agreement to the forefront. Sincere gratitude to them all!
The NH House will look to amend SB43 to include Secretary Gardner’s wishes into the Bill. Hopefully, the houe will vote to approve SB43 as amended this week.
THE AGREEMENT
Below is a summary of what we agreed to regarding the SB43 audit of the Windham, NH November 3, 2020 General Election. The audit will be completed within 45 days after SB43 is signed into law.
1. All four of the Windham, NH AccuVote voting machines and ballots will be forensically analyzed by a team of forensic analysts. One forensic analyst will be chosen from each of the two groups below to perform a full forensic analysis.
a. Harry Hursti, Ron Rivest or Andrew Appel (Picked by the Secretary)
b. Col. Phil Waldron, Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai (The SOS will allow me to choose)
Jovan Hutton Pulitzer will be asked to be a member of the forensic team.
The forensic analysts will determine, in their own discretion, the process that will be followed for the forensic analysis. The NH Secretary of State and the town of Windham will provide the forensic analysts with whatever resources the analysts deem necessary to perform a complete and thorough forensic analysis, including but not limited to, full access to the Windham AccuVote machines and all of the ballots from the Windham, NH November 3, 2020 election. The custody of Windham’s AccuVote machines will remain with Windham Town Officials.
The audit will take place in a location other than Windham, NH or the customary recount locations for the Secretary of State. The Police Standards and Training Facility in Concord is currently being considered due to the size and security of the location as well as the ability to live stream with multiple cameras.
The forensic team will produce a report of their findings and present it to the Secretary of State, who will make it available to the public forthwith.
2. All of the the Windham, NH ballots from the November 3, 2020 election will be tallied through each of Windham’s four AccuVote machines. The paper tapes from all four machines will show the results for all races, be compared with each other, and be included in the forensic report.
3. A hand count will be performed by the NH Secretary of State on two races other than the Rockingham County District 7 State Rep race.
My sincere gratitude goes out to Secretary Gardner, Senator Giuda, Dr David Strang, House Election Law Committee Chairwoman Barbara Griffin, Tom Murray and the Windham Board of Selectmen!
Thank you!
