Washblog

www.democracyfornewhampshire.com  

Hands-on Elections: A Complete Handbook, Nancy Tobi

The handbook is freely available in two versions - 84 pp and 47 pp - in PDF.

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Nationally, the average number of ballots processed in any polling place in the country is under 1000. But New Hampshire towns hand count up to 3,600 ballots on any given Election Night -- and at less cost than it takes to operate a single voting machine. The costs of printing paper ballots, hiring local community hand counters, and even bringing in a specialized manager, if need be, are much lower than the investment in computerized voting equipment requiring continual upgrades, maintenance, and specialized storage space.

New Hampshire's ballots are among the most complex ballots in the nation, because we have the largest citizen legislature and many multi-member districts. But we still manage to hand count 3 to 4 times the national average of ballots in any given polling place, and wrap up the counting to announce our results on Election Night.

If New Hampshire can do this, with our large polling places and our complex ballots, then any place can.

Hands-On Elections provides all the information needed to establish hand count elections, including cost and staffing guidance and estimates, and methodologies for counting and for reconciliation of ballots, voters, and votes.

In New Hampshire, we're counting the votes. With the information provided in this Handbook, you can too.

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