It is disappointing that a reporter dedicated to political news in New Hampshire could get so many things wrong in a story. Things that could have easily been corrected with just a little bit of checking. As the candidate who requested the recount, I’d like to set the record straight.
The headline (“Unravelling how Democrats in one NH race wound up getting extra votes,” April 16) implies that the recount results pointed the same way for all the democratic candidates. Three of the Democrats received 18 to 28 more votes in the recount compared with election night results.
One candidate (that being me) received 99 fewer votes. So, if we are going with the narrative that the recount is definitive and the election night results are wrong (not proven yet, that is to be determined by the audit) then only one democratic candidate had “extra” votes on election night.
On November 3rd, 2020 I lost the fourth Windham representative seat by 24 votes. This allowed for a recount. It did not trigger an automatic recount – there is no such thing in New Hampshire. I requested the recount.
The recount was conducted with COVID precautions, masked participants and monitors showing each ballot. The tables were set up differently for COVID with large tables (four pushed together) accommodating two, sometimes three ballot handlers, and at times 15 or more piles of ballots and four monitors for observers to watch. At one point an observer at one table called a halt and asked that the piles be straightened and completed ballots to be put back in boxes because it was getting difficult to track both monitors and the piles.
Mr. Steinhauser then drew the conclusion that the recount results were correct and somehow “proved” that the election results were wrong, and further that any errors occurred because of the ballot counting machines. The recount, at this point, proves no such thing.
The discrepancy between the results reported by the town on November 3rd and those reported at the close of the recount are unprecedented and raise the questions which results are correct and how did the results of one of these counts go so wrong?
After the unprecedented discrepancy of the recount results, I appealed to the Ballot Law Commission to request investigation. It was the Ballot Law Commission who initially requested the attorney general to investigate, not Republicans. The Windham Select Board, through town counsel, also requested the Department of Justice to investigate and I joined them in that request.
What Mr. Steinhauser did not report is that the NH GOP and the four Republican Windham state representatives sought to prevent my appeal and request for investigation to the Ballot Law Commission by filing a motion to dismiss.
As the candidate who requested the recount I have been working to get answers for Windham voters since November 3rd. I want Windham voters, myself included, to have confidence in the results of our elections. Many people in Windham and beyond have viewed the discrepancy as “proof” of fraud in the election and the fault of ballot counting machines used in 85% of New Hampshire towns.
Such sentiment worked its way into the enabling legislation (SB 43) by calling for a “forensic” audit team. The term forensic implies investigation of a crime (according to Oxford Languages dictionary). Right now, there is no evidence of crime or fraud, only two sets of disparate numbers.
The audit of the Windham machines and re-running the ballots will reveal if the discrepancy resulted from the machines. The repeated hand count of the state representative race will show whether the discrepancy stemmed from the recount. This is a vital part of the audit. While 85% of towns use the same machines as Windham, candidates in 100% of New Hampshire towns have the recourse of calling for a recount. New Hampshire voters need to have confidence in that process as well.
As the candidate at the heart of the matter, I am not pursuing this to try to overturn the results. I was clear about this when speaking before the Ballot Law Commission. The Commission upheld the four winners and the enabling legislation also makes that clear. I am pursuing answers for Windham’s voters. And I don’t want the final record to be comprised of misleading and erroneous headlines such as that in the column. New Hampshire’s voters deserve better than that. They deserve the truth. I will be following the SB 43 audit closely. I encourage all readers to do the same.
(Kristi St. Laurent was a candidate for state representative in 2020. She lives in Windham.)