New Hampshire
Election 2024: Here’s how votes are counted in New Hampshire
CONCORD — On Tuesday, Nov. 5, votes cast in the presidential election in New Hampshire will be counted by voting machines, election officials and volunteers.
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. One hundred ten towns/cities and 67 wards, including most Seacoast communities like Exeter, Hampton, and Portsmouth, use AccuVote ballot counting devices. Fifteen towns/cities and six wards use VotingWorks ballot counting devices. On the Seacoast, Rochester uses both types of machines. Ballot counting devices count all properly marked races (meaning the oval is filled in) except for write-in votes.
However, 122 towns in New Hampshire, including the Seacoast towns of New Castle and South Hampton, haven’t switched to machines and still hand count their ballots.
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.
Seacoast NH election 2024 voter guide: Read about candidates, poll times, how to register
No matter how the ballots are counted, however, all votes are cast on paper ballots. None of the machines can connect to the internet.
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 absentee ballots processed and counted?
Election officials can start processing absentee ballots at 1:00 pm on election day, or a different time no earlier than two hours after the polls open if properly posted 24 hours in advance.
Election officials process absentee ballots at the polls. To do so, they take ballots and affidavits out of their envelopes and check the name against the voter checklist to make sure they are registered and had not already voted in person. The ballots are then removed from the envelop and cast into the ballot counting device or ballot box. They are counted along with the rest of the ballots after the polls close.
What happens 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% 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 Democratic 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?
The results tallying process takes place in the polls immediately after they close. A continuous process, the moderator will publicly announce the results after they have been tallied and reconciled. Any member of the public can observe this process.
Secretary of State David Scanlan expects polling places to announce results the night of the election or into the early hours of the following morning.
However, it’s possible the national result of the presidential election will not be announced on election night. Polls show the election between Harris and Trump to be very tight, and, in some states, counting the votes and certifying the results can take days, or even weeks.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire: So, So Awesome, Though I Did Lose My Nerve for a Time – Part I – The Trek
This is a story not about scenic views, wildflowers, animals, people met, towns encountered, but some reality, at least mine, of things we often do not talk about in the hiking community. In retrospect, the first 1,800+ miles headed north on my thru hike of the Appalachian Trail (AT) were certainly taxing and replete with various challenges that I had to work through, learn from, and make adjustments. However, realistically not much on the AT at that point, and per my years of previous hiking experiences, prepared me mentally for what I would encounter in New Hampshire.
Welcome to idyllic New Hampshire.
More idyllic New Hampshire. Not so fast, Mr. Hiker guy, can’t do the same moves as before.
New Hampshire Hiking
Frankly, New Hampshire is a beast and I do mean that in a positive and respectful manner. The hiking in New Hampshire is so technically difficult from other areas within the U.S. and abroad that I have hiked. It seemed like I was constantly bouldering, scrambling, using handholds, fording high, swift creeks/rivers, navigating massive descents with no “guardrails,” or in May encountering hour-by-hour changing weather (e.g., snow, hail, sleet, rain, wind).
A granite face. Down we go.
Crazy Descent
When I hike, I do carry with me a healthy dose of fear, which I find to be positive. For me, fear operates as a navigating tool related to risks, focusing my mind, calming my emotional state, or strengthening my thought processes/decision-making.
On a few AT sections early on in New Hampshire, such as the northbound massive descent (Beaver Brook Cascades) down from Mount Moosilauke in a snow and sleet storm, my revolve and fear-cooping mechanisms seemed to become a negative version of “scared” with every step given the large amounts of this winter’s snow and ice, slippery rock faces, micro spikes and/or trial runners not adhering well to granite, and so on. In my mind, and probably quite true given the weather and trail conditions, danger of a fall, injury, or worse appeared to be at every turn and step. A 3+ mile very steep descent turned into a 3 to 4 hour mental stress test that I am pretty sure I “failed.”
Snow and ice up and down the mountain.
I was warned.
Rising Waters
The next day, I hiked about 17 miles from Kinsman Notch to Franconia Notch, and it had rained a lot in that section of the AT during the previous two days. During my ascent of Mount Kinsman, it continued to rain and rain. I must of forded 6 to 8 rivers, or maybe just the same river that amount of times, but as the day wore on, the water levels in these river(s) kept rising. I am almost 6’3” tall and by the end of the hiking day, I was fording river water mid- to upper-thigh and in super swift conditions. Again, like the previous Mousilauke experience, my positive fear started to become something more negative and mentally paralyzing thinking about the inherent risk involved in fording a deep, swift river late in the day and with no other option to get to the other side of a flooded out AT.
Various extremely sketchy river fords.
A Reset
After these experiences, and frankly losing my confidence, I took a few days off to level set, so I stayed at the wonderful Notch Hostel. To date, the Notch is my favorite hostel on the trail. The staff were so welcoming, warm, and always available. The hostel was super clean and friendly and had very fair expectations related to how hikers et al. should live there as well as treat the hostel environment. After at reset, I went back out and did a 27-mile hike in a few days of the famed Franconia Ridge over Mounts Lafayette and Lincoln, South Twin Mountain, and others. This was a very challenging hike, but one that I needed to do to gain my nerve back and reestablish mentally my healthy level of fear instead of hiking scared per possible ‘what if’ scenarios of serious injury and beyond.
Moving into Part II
So, in the end, it was fine to lose my nerve for a time and be scared in certain hiking situations. The key for me was in recognizing the latter state, trying to mentally review the circumstances, and learn from these experiences. Then, I needed to physically go back out in challenging conditions and hike. I feel really good about New Hampshire and what is to come on the AT. My part II, if you will, will be informed from my part I. I can’t wait for more of New Hampshire.
A new day rising.
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New Hampshire
New Hampshire mountainside transformed into largest outdoor sculpture park in New England
Sponsored by New England Chevy Dealers
With over 100 sculptures woven into the mountainside, the Andres Institute of Art is New England’s largest outdoor sculpture park.
Along wooded trails and scenic overlooks, visitors encounter a rotating collection of works that blend art and nature, turning a simple hike into an immersive gallery experience
CONCORD, NH — Concord fire and rescue teams were sent to a house fire in the South End on Saturday afternoon.
Around 3:15 p.m., Concord Fire Alarm began receiving reports about smoke coming from a home on Brookside Drive. Engine 4 arrived first and confirmed smoke was coming from the building. About 10 minutes later, a firefighter stated the fire appeared to be coming from the basement.
News 603 posted videos on Facebook here:
And here:
A few minutes later, firefighters reported putting water on the fire.
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