As misinformation swirls, many N.H. towns will vote on ballot counting machines

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/08/ [login to see] /as-misinformation-swirls-many-n-h-towns-will-vote-on-ballot-counting-machines
Voters in the town of Milton, N.H., will this week be asked to weigh in on more than 30 different local issues, things like the school budget, the next fire chief and even the type of lightbulbs used in streetlamps.

But another item on Milton's town meeting ballot could reshape the town's election process itself: Residents will decide whether election officials should continue using a ballot counting machine, known as the AccuVote, or revert to a hand count.

Milton is one of more than a dozen New Hampshire communities voting on vote-counting this town meeting season, after activists who question the accuracy and security of the state's ballot counting machines launched a campaign to ditch them.

The activists behind the push to hand-count all ballots contend, without proof, that the machines can be hacked or rigged, and their effort follows baseless claims of widespread issues with the 2020 election.

State and local election officials say the AccuVote — the only approved ballot counting machine in New Hampshire — has proven itself reliable at the polls and in an exhaustive outside audit held last spring.