Testimony to NH Voter Confidence Commission, May 30, 2022

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Jun 17, 2022, 9:31:42 AM6/17/22
to Jaffrey Voices
Posted June 17, 2022 by Deborah Sumner

Dear Voters,

I hadn’t planned to communicate with others on this list again, nor had I planned to send the following to the Voter Confidence Commission on May 30. 

We have many dedicated public servants in NH. I have been lucky to have worked with some of them. They don’t just look at what is good for them, to further their own political ambitions or their party’s. They listen, they care and try, against all odds at times, to do what is good for ALL of us.

Please think of the best person to be our next Secretary of State and encourage him/her to consider running for that position after the 2022 election.

Debbie
PS This can be shared.

Begin forwarded message:

From: Deborah Sumner 
Subject: My NH Election Story: 2010-2022
Date: May 30, 2022 at 3:42:49 AM EDT
To: 

To Members of the Voter Confidence Commission:

Here’s the culture I have worked for since 2010, reflected by three town moderators.  I believe, with support from a new secretary of state, this culture is possible in many if not most of our NH communities. See attached draft framework of how we could continue to use the computer and achieve that.

Danville:
“I’ve always stressed the importance of public confidence in the process and suspect most moderators would share that sentiment upon careful reflection.”Wally Fries, explaining why he always hand counted 1-3 races on election night to verify the computer count.

Lyndeborough:
“The most important job in a democracy is to carefully count your neighbors’ ballots.” Walter Holland

Derry:
 “An accurate vote count is integral to our democracy. If the people are not allowed to freely select their representatives and know that their vote has been accurately counted, we no longer have a democracy….

“Election integrity is not built on trust, but on a transparent process. It’s not incumbent on the voter to put blind faith in the accuracy of computers and the good will of election officials and poll workers -- it’s on the government to prove itself to the citizens.” Mary Till

Current reality:
Because of the current culture which appears to be incapable of changing, I have no expectation that I will ever trust and be proud of NH elections. I share this as part of my own healing process in accepting that truth and dealing with my anger, hurt and despair with the NH election system. I hope no else has to live with the kind of experience I have had.

Please consider this as an “impact statement” of one whose trust in government and our election system has probably been damaged beyond repair.

My Story
1) October 14, 2010  LTE to the Keene Sentinel . I was fired as ballot clerk in Jaffrey when it appeared the day before the November election. (See below.)

2) The Oct. 4 2020 communication to legislators and AG attorneys continues my story as I document my experience learning about the true (and shocking) nature of our NH election system that protects itself and people in it, not our rights, votes or elections. (See below.) 

More has happened since. 

3) Since my recent request of AG Formella and Rep. Griffin to resolve an ongoing issue with David Scanlan since 2016 was ignored.  I have now asked both of them to resign.

In my May 28 communication to legislators and AG Formella involved with HB 1567, I identified the key problem in our current system as the attorney general/secretary of state relationship (attorney/client) and the lack of accountability in those two offices.

There is context to the HB 1567 story but I’ll spare you the details and the entire May 28 communication unless requested.

I wrote, 

“Who SHOULD be held accountable for the overvoted ballot situation in Windham (and other communities, including Derry), in Nov. 2020? (Yes, I have the evidence to back it up.)

1. Those in the AG and SoS offices prior to Jan. 1, 2006, including David Scanlan and Bud Fitch.
2. AG MacDonald in Sept. 2017
3. The House ELC  and R party leadership in 2018
4. Governor Sununu in Oct. 2019 (perhaps on the advice of his personal attorney, John Formella)
5. Assistant AG Nicholas Chong Yen, Nov. 2019
6. AG Formella in 2021 and 2022 for failing to enforce election laws re: the secretary of state.

1) October 14, 2010 letter to Keene Sentinel
An open letter to Jaffrey citizens:

On Nov. 2, Jaffrey will conduct a public hand count of the US Senate or Representative race after the polls close. Information about WHY we’re doing this is posted in the Town Office and library.
As a ballot clerk since Nov. 2008, I’ve taken the oath all NH election workers take, to uphold the laws and Constitution of our state and nation. I could not, in good conscience, take that oath knowing what I know about our voting machine.

Local election officials and citizens didn’t know when we purchased the Diebold AccuVote that it (and all computer-based voting machines) is vulnerable to hacking.

Harri Hursti, who demonstrated one way vote totals could be changed in Hacking Democracy, has described the AccuVote’s flawed design as “the mother of security holes,” like “a house with an unlockable revolving door.”

These vulnerabilities have been known since the 2000 Presidential election in Florida. IF NH citizens and local election officials had known, we would probably have few or none of these machines counting our votes today. Instead, 176 polling locations, representing 85% of votes cast, use the same machine Jaffrey uses.

Computer security experts and a state advisory group have recommended hand count checks as deserving ”the highest priority” in terms of resource allocation. Since the Legislature is concerned about legal challenges to an unfunded mandate and the Secretary of State hasn’t told moderators he recommends this check, it’s up to informed citizens to ask their moderators for this AND volunteer to help count votes. (If you’d like to help count, let your party chair or town clerk know.)

Jaffrey citizens can trust our election results. Hopefully, by the next election, we will be able to trust results in the rest of the state as well. 

2) Excerpt from Oct. 4, 2020 (rest of communication available on request)

Deborah Sumner 
Re: David Scanlan and Bud Fitch, continuing misleading, of local election officials this time.
To: "ChongYen, Nicholas" <Nicholas...@doj.nh.gov>, Gordon.M...@doj.nh.gov, "Edwards, Anne M." <Anne.E...@doj.nh.gov>, Jane....@doj.nh.gov, "Tracy, Richard" <Richar...@doj.nh.gov
Cc: Gerhard Bedding, barbara Glassman, David Cote <david...@leg.state.nh.us>, Melanie Levesque <Melanie....@leg.state.nh.us>, barbara...@leg.state.nh.us, Regina Birdsell <regina....@leg.state.nh.us>, “” wchr...@Shaheengordon.com Jeanne....@leg.state.nh.us

Let the record show:

1. Mr. Chong Yen has not acknowledged receipt of the previous communications, copied below. 

2. My knowledge of the pattern of criminal intent involving individuals in the NH SoS and AG offices begins in 2003, when instead of codifying this provision of HAVA law, they and legislative allies violated legislative rules and code of ethics to exempt ballots from public records.

3. Before the November 2010 election, an individual in the SoS office interfered with the Jaffrey moderator’s decision to verify (by hand counting) the computer count of one of the two federal races on the ballot. The moderator has previously sought AG advice and knew he could do this, yet this AG individual did not stop the SoS individual from interfering in the Jaffrey election.

Reports of law violation to the Attorney General after the November 2010 election were ignored. Those violations involved the Secretary of State’s office.

4. When November 2010 ballots from Jaffrey were reportedly illegally destroyed before the court could decide whether to give me access, the AG ONLY issued a cease and desist order to prevent the Jaffrey town clerk from repeating that action. He did NOT investigate to determine WHEN those ballots were destroyed or whether someone had advised her to destroy them.

The AG individual heading that investigation also represented the State in my appeal of the first court case to the NH Supreme court.

5. In my second attempt to review Jaffrey ballots after the November 2012 election, the same AG individual represented the state, arguing against access. The lower court gave its opinion based on provably false claims by the SoS and AG and the Supreme Court did not correct the error.

6. I discovered a “material fact” that would probably have changed the outcome of the case after the court’s March 2016 opinion and reported it to the AG in November 2017. He took no action against the SoS individual who KNEW the state’s main argument was false.

7. In October 2016, the AG and SoS took illegal and unconstitutional action against a town moderator, thus “forbidding” local election officials to fulfill their constitutional duty to voters to ensure a legitimate count.

Legislative leaders took no action on a request from citizens to independently investigate the SoS and AG action.

8. The violation of federal law was reported to the NH AG in Sept. 2017. His non-action gave permission for individuals with the right connections and opportunity to continue cheating in NH elections.

9. In January 2018, two individuals in the SoS office collaborated to misinform a legislative committee about NH’s compliance with federal law. House leadership of a particular party also opposed HB 1486.

10. Beginning May 2018 through today, the USDOJ has taken no action on the reported federal law violation, thus giving these same individuals permission to continue cheating.

11. On Oct. 18, 2019, Governor Sununu gave his written permission for those individuals to continue violating the federal law requirement and cheat in NH elections.

12. On November 20, 2019, the NH AG gave his written permission for those individuals to cheat.

13. One particular September 2020 contest shows evidence that cheating MAY have occurred and votes from thousands of NH voters stolen. There may be others I’m not aware of yet.  Because of the pattern of criminal intent shown by individuals in the AG and SoS offices, an outside, investigation would be needed to determine whether this cheating did or did not occur.

14. I will forward this thread to legislative leaders for their review and ask them WHO should investigate the September 2020 contest and to initiate a truth and reconciliation process that would 1) remove criminal penalties from those involved in what appears to be criminal conduct 2) let the public hear the truth of our NH elections so we can help prevent this kind of treasonous conduct from re-occurring in the future.

15. The next communication will be with House and Senate ELC chairs to see how we can return NH elections to the “rule of law” consistent with our constitution and vision of our ancestors.

Respectfully,
Deborah Sumner

PS At least 13 of my NH ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War from NH. My dad, born and raised in NH, and the source of my deep roots here, served as a doctor in WW II. 

Conclusion:
I appreciate your willingness to devote time and energy to this commission. But I expect you will simply tell us how wonderful our NH elections are, how we should all trust the machines and the people who have been programmed to act like machines, not think, feel or respond to legitimate concerns. I expect you collectively will be part of the system that protects itself so you cannot be honest about needed changes, including new people in the offices of secretary of state and attorney general who show us they want the public to trust our elections and will work with us to achieve that goal.

I hope you prove that I’m wrong. If I am, you will ask me to send you the May 28 communication to Rep. Griffin, AG Formella and others.

Respectfully submitted,

Deborah Sumner
Jaffrey, NH 03452

PS We need a better way to resolve our differences than having to take legal action through the courts.

Attachment: Post-Election Audit for NH: A Proposal


22-Post-ElectionAud2.pdf
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