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.

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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.