Concord Monitor - Opinion: New Hampshire has done the work to make our elections safe

Nick Zaharias of Derry, N.H., a public witness, loads a test ballot into a vote counting machine while testing machines before the New Hampshire primary, at the Derry Municipal Center, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa

By JOHN SUNUNU and RICHARD SWETT

Senator John Sununu and Ambassador Richard Swett are co-chairs for the Democracy Defense Project.

As Americans across the country head to the polls or cast early ballots for this year’s election, we have been grimly reminded by the media of a loss of faith in our election safety and security; but in New Hampshire, Granite Staters have a different story to tell. Our elections system has earned the trust of voters by adopting common-sense safeguards to ensure that every vote cast is legal and valid.

As former elected officials from both major parties, we want to address voting concerns of the national electorate by helping other states learn from New Hampshire’s leadership on election fairness and integrity. Election safety and security is not a partisan issue. Every American deserves the right to have their vote counted in elections that ensure transparency and the rule of law.

That is why we decided to bring our bipartisan experience as a former U.S. Senator and member of Congress to initiate the Democracy Defense Project (DDP), a bipartisan organization dedicated to strengthening democracy by reestablishing faith in the transparency, safety, security, and validity of our elections process. As founding advisory board members of DDP, our mission is to build public trust in elections by advocating for transparency and accountability in elections and voting procedures that instill public confidence in the integrity of America’s elections.

Granite Staters may disagree on plenty, but when it comes to our elections, we agree that New Hampshire runs a fair contest. When DDP asked New Hampshire voters whether they were confident that votes would be accurately cast and counted in our state, an overwhelming 84% of them expressed confidence in our state’s system. A great deal of that confidence is generated from voters’ support of procedures New Hampshire has put in place to protect the will of the people.

New Hampshire requires that all paper ballots be stored in locked facilities to ensure and confirm their security and prevent any tampering. We mandate that no vote-counting machines are connected to the internet so that they cannot be accessed or hacked online. Our state officials are required to use a multi-state database to check for duplicate voter registrations in multiple states. We require each voter to present identification. Independent testing is conducted on every vote-counting machine in the state of New Hampshire prior to the start of in-person voting. And finally, we allow bipartisan oversight of all election results.

These massively popular electoral laws, along with other common-sense safeguards, have and will continue to deliver trusted election results for Granite Staters that supporters of any candidate should be able to accept. The health and vitality of our democratic processes rely on the faith of the electorate in the sanctity and security of the vote. New Hampshire understands this, which is why our elections should be a shining example of election safety and security for the rest of the country.

We recently held an event with The New England Council with New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan to discuss the upcoming election, and what state officials are doing to make sure every vote is counted fairly and accurately. Secretary Scanlan said, “They are run by individuals that are elected at the local level, they’re transparent, they’re completely observable, and any election official would be happy to answer questions that you might have about the process.”

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As elections throughout the U.S. are decided this November, DDP will continue to foster a national dialogue on supporting safe and secure election practices. New Hampshire’s common sense security measures for our elections enjoy consensus support from the people and should be adopted by every state and local jurisdiction in the union.

The Granite State will once again exemplify our “live free or die” history by delivering a transparent, secure election protected by voting procedures that build trust and guarantee a fair outcome. We stand ready to assist our fellow Americans in achieving the same trustworthy acceptance of their election results in any way we can.