Making the Case for Truth and Reconciliation
dsumneri...@gmail.com
Looking for one R and D, current of former legislator, to begin the discussion….
Information Rep. Jim Qualey, vice chair of House Election Law Committee doesn’t want to talk about.Represents Jaffrey and Rindge voters.
As of March 13, 2025, he has not returned my phone calls. Three Jaffrey representatives and senator received these three communications.
1) Feb. 4, 2025 communication/Request for Investigation of individuals in SoS and AG offices
2) Feb. 7 communication (Senator Riccardi declined my request to make sure AG Formella received this)
3) Feb. 8 communication sent to citizens
From: Deborah Sumner
Subject: Fwd: Request for investigation of individuals in SoS and AG offices
Date: February 4, 2025 at 10:29:58 AM EST
To: Rita.M...@gc.nh.gov, Richard Ames <amesin...@gmail.com>, Jim.Q...@gc.nh.gov, Denise Ricciardi <denise.R...@gc.nh.gov>
The initial communication with the Public Integrity Unit was Aug. 23, 2023, and response Sept. 19.
Three supporting documents attached. NHHAVA05, 82523InvestReq.pdf, HAVA-OV overviewFinal.pdf
Complete HAVA plan (sent the AG) available if requested. It says:
p. 50 "The Secretary of State will manage the implementation of the New Hampshire State Plan in the manner described elsewhere in this document. New Hampshire will not make any material changes in the administration of the plan unless the change is adopted in conformance with the requirements for changes set forth in Section 254 (a)(11) of HAVA."
1. NHHAVA05 includes Bud Fitch’s opinion re: first attempt to codify federal law requirement in 2018 and Nicholas Chong Yen’s Nov. 20, 2019 opinion when I told the AG I would appeal to the Ballot Law Commission as part of the administrative complaint procedure developed in accordance with HAVA law. That opinion came after Gov. Sununu’s Oct. 18 response to my request for his help to encourage the AG to comply with federal law.
2. 82523InvestReq file, see exhibit 2. John Formella was serving as Sununu’s personal attorney at that time.
3. HAVA OV file was my attempt to resolve this informally with AG and SoS before the Nov. 2020 election. Both Chong Yen and Gardner said no.
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Jimenez, Dan" <Dan.A....@doj.nh.gov>
Subject: Re: Request for investigation of individuals in SoS and AG offices
Date: September 19, 2023 at 3:02:53 PM EDT
To: Deborah Sumner, "DOJ: Invest Info" <inves...@doj.nh.gov>, "Boffetti, James" <James.T....@doj.nh.gov>, "Matteson, Myles" <Myles.B....@doj.nh.gov>
Ms. Sumner,
The Public Integrity Unit of the New Hampshire Department of Justice investigates and prosecutes state crimes against state officials and law enforcement officers. Based on what you have provided in your emails, there insufficient evidence, under a reasonable suspicion standard, that there is a prosecutable state crime by a state official. Insofar as you allege a violation of federal law, you may contact the federal authorities at the FBI or the United States Attorney’s Office-New Hampshire District.
Dan Jimenez
From: Deborah Sumner
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2023 4:14 AM
To: DOJ: Invest Info <inves...@doj.nh.gov>; Boffetti, James <James.T....@doj.nh.gov>; Matteson, Myles <Myles.B....@doj.nh.gov>; Jimenez, Dan <Dan.A....@doj.nh.gov>; Kristen...@usdoj.gov <Kristen...@usdoj.gov>; voting....@usdoj.gov <voting....@usdoj.gov>
Subject: Re: Request for investigation of individuals in SoS and AG offices
Sept.19, 2023
To: Public Integrity Unit, NH Department of Justice
Civil/Voting Rights Division, US Department of Justice
Myles Matteson, of the NH AG’s office confirmed that the Public Integrity Unit had received the Aug. 25 and Sept. 3 communications. As of today, I have received no notice that NH plans to move forward with this investigation or has requested a joint investigation with the USDOJ.
I believe the USDOJ will have to take the lead because of the personal and professional relationships involved at the state level. (On Aug. 25, I named three individuals who knew and five others who should have known, NH was violating the intent of the overvote notification requirement for optical scans (HAVA, Sec. 301 and Sec. 402, using the administrative complaint procedure to resolve HAVA issues.)
Section 301(a) linked here:https://www.doj.nh.gov/election-law/documents/title-iii-hava.pdf
Frankly, two state attorneys general and two United States attorneys general have dropped the ball on this issue so far.
I have now given you additional information that shows the probability financial fraud was also involved, that individuals knowingly misinformed the federal government beginning in 2003 (state plan submitted and published in the Federal Register) and a state legislative committee in 2018.
On April 14, 2004, Bud Fitch provided written testimony on HB 176, including “The Help America Vote Act requires that for any election at which a federal office is being voted, voters must be given instructions on the effect of overvotes. The proposed instructions informs voters `If you vote for more than the stated number of candidates, your vote for that office will not be counted.’ This added instruction will help satisfy this requirement of federal law.”
The FN for the bill included spending $199,500 of HAVA funds to replace 38 OpTech computers with AccuVotes.
This is the only reference I have found in legislative history re: the federal overvote notification requirement for optical scans. I have found no attempt to codify it until 2018 when my state representative sponsored HB 1486. See #9, Exhibit 3 of attached document that says “ 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.”
I want to know some action has begun to resolve this issue before there is another change in leadership of the two agencies responsible for enforcing HAVA law.
I am mailing copies of this Sept. 19, 2023 communication to US Attorney General Merrick Garland and three attorneys who are known public advocates in the hopes that can spur an affirmative response from one or both of you that an investigation has begun or is ongoing.
In this email to PIU and USDOJ, I am attaching a file which includes:
1. The Sept. 9, 2017 communication to AG Gordon MacDonald informing him of NH’s violation of the HAVA overvote notification requirement for optical scans and the Sept. 12, 2017 response from Anne Edwards.
2. The Oct. 18, 2019 response from Gov. Christopher Sununu in response to my June 5. 2019 communication asking him to encourage the AG to enforce the law. I asked: 1. “Will NH voluntarily comply with a reasonable federal law that protects the Constitutional rights of voters and candidates?” 2. “If yes, will that compliance begin with the Presidential Primary?” Since current NH AG John Formella was the governor’s personal attorney at that time, he should be questioned whether he advised the governor on this issue and who he consulted with before giving that advice.
3. Oct. 4, 2020 email to Assistant AG Nicholas Chong Yen and others, showing the timeline of events leading me to the conclusion there was a pattern of criminal intent involving two of the named individuals. This was also shared with legislative leaders. No response.
4. March 18, 2003 communication from then Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan to the chair of the public works committee, advocating that “funds from the Help America Vote Act can be used to pay a portion of the debt service” for the Archives Building. You can find notes of his testimony in legislative history on HB25-FN, hearing of March 6, 2003, which refers to use of “title 1” money.
5. Specific information about the contested use of $1 million for that purpose and links to the 2007 and 2020 state audits of the Department of State and the EAC’s 2017 HAVA audit
In the 2007 and 2017 audits, the issue between NH and the EAC remained unresolved. Executive Director Brian Newby was replaced in Oct. 2019 by first interim, then director Mona Harrington on June 10, 2020. Since the 2020 state audit says this issue has been resolved, there should be something in writing from the EAC that confirms that. An investigator would have to ask.
6. Both the NH and US Attorneys General had the opportunity to address the overvote notification problem before the 2020 elections and failed to do so. Because of the problem discovered in a recount of a Windham representative race in Nov. 2020, citizens did extensive research with the incomplete information available and found a significant number of overvoted ballots on certain computers in some communities, the highest coming from Computer #3 in Merrimack, 22.78%. I have information re: Derry. Tom Murray of Windham has information from other towns.
Voters and taxpayers need your protection and accountability for those individuals who knew and those should have intervened and didn’t. Part of the resolution must include an acknowledgment that both state and federal enforcement agencies failed to protect us before the 2020 elections. It should outline needed reforms to make sure this kind of issue doesn’t happen again in NH or any other state. Abuse of an office of public trust cannot be ignored.
Thank you. I look forward to hearing from one or both of you that this is being dealt with. If I hear nothing by Oct. 19, you will be hearing from me again.
Respectfully,
Deborah Sumner
Contact info removed
On Sep 3, 2023, at 12:53 PM, Deborah Sumner wrote:
Please let me know you have received this and my communication of August 25.
Two points for clarification:
1. Kelly Ayotte was the Deputy AG and AG during the 2004-2006 period so SHOULD have known. It was clear in April 2004 (Fitch and Scanlan testimony on HB 176) that they would not be complying with the optical scan overvote notification requirement of HAVA. Yet, in March 18, 2003 communication to the House Public Works Committee, David Scanlan proposed using “funds from the Help America Vote Act to pay a portion of the debt service” for an addition on the Archives Building, an expense not authorized under HAVA law. $1 million dollars of that HAVA money was approved by the legislature for that purpose. Scanlan SHOULD have known that expense needed to be pre-approved by the federal government. His communication is available on request.
2. The HAVA OV overview file, attached previously, was dated July 30, 2020 as an informal attempt to resolve this issue with the Attorney General and Secretary of State. Neither (represented by Chong Yen and Gardner) chose to do that.
Any resolution at this point would have to include those who were directly involved and anyone who participated in the cover up would no longer be allowed to serve in positions of public trust, as either elected or appointed officials in NH.
To me, this is a serious enough offense to remove voting rights from those individuals since we can never know how many NH voters were illegally disenfranchised by this scheme, whether any election results would have changed, if any election fraud (with overvotes) was used by allies of the previously named individuals.
If I hear nothing from you by Sept. 19, I will contact you again.
Thank you.
Debbie Sumner
“Telling the truth about the past helps cause justice in the present. Achieving justice in the present helps us tell the truth about the past.”
James Loewen
On Aug 25, 2023, at 10:52 AM, Deborah Sumner wrote:
Aug. 25, 2023
Myles Matteson and James Boffetti
NH Department of Justice
33 Capitol St.
Concord, NH 03301
I believe that AG Formella’s Oct. 21, 2021 memo now gives the Public Integrity Unit authority to investigate this matter, which allege criminal misconduct and complies with its stated purpose.
https://www.doj.nh.gov/criminal/documents/public-integrity.pdf
“seek to vindicate the public’s interest in honest government”
p. 2 “reasonable suspicion to believe that further investigation will lead to probable cause that criminal conduct has occurred.”
This complaint alleges violation of state and federal election law and what looks like financial fraud involving individuals in the NH Secretary of State’s office and Attorney General’s offices. Specific individuals who had to know prior to Jan. 1, 2006 they were violating federal HAVA law are David Scanlan, Anthony Stevens in the Secretary of State’s office and Bud Fitch, then in the Attorney General’s office. Individuals who SHOULD have known are Bill Gardner in the Secretary of State’s office and Anne Edwards, who was Bud Fitch’s supervisor, and Kelly Ayotte in the Attorney General’s office. Assistant AG Nicholas Chong Yen also should have known NH was violating the law. See his Nov. 20. 2019 communication in NHHAVA05.pdf attached. And Governor Chris Sununu also should have known. I can send you his communication of Oct.18, 2019.
The AG and SoS were responsible for state compliance with the submitted plan.
The initial report of this violation was sent to then AG Gordon MacDonald in Sept. 2017, available on request. Response from Anne Edwards was they weren’t going to do anything about it.
The initial report to the USDOJ was forwarded by the US Attorney for NH in May 2018…only response is that it remains “under review.”
I am also attaching the full state report showing NH said it planned to comply with the requirement of section 301(a). See p. 12 “Optical scanning devices in use in New Hampshire have the capability to detect and report over votes - ballots where the voter has voted for more candidates than allowed. The optical scanners will be set to reject such ballots, affording voters the opportunity to correct over votes.” and in Appendix A.
David Scanlan has not produced requested evidence that NH received either a waiver for the requirement or that the USDOJ had accepted NH’s interpretation of the law.
I am copying individuals in the federal government who are aware of this still unresolved problem in case you wish to coordinate your investigations and actions with them.
Please let me if I can be of further assistance. I expect a response to this communication
Thank you.
Deborah Sumner
<State Plan 2005-06-24.pdf>
Begin forwarded message:
From: Deborah Sumner
Subject: Fwd: Report of Fraud by SoS office
Date: November 5, 2020 at 10:12:14 AM EST
Cc: michae...@leg.state.nh.us, stephe...@leg.state.nh.us, Maryjane...@leg.state.nh.us, Lou.Dal...@leg.state.nh.us, chuck...@leg.state.nh.us, donna...@leg.state.nh.us
Haven’t received a response to the question I asked Oct. 26: “If this is not the place for me to report it, is there a RIGHT place to do so?”
Am including a few other people on LBA and the chairs of the House and Senate Finance Committees, who are member of the Fiscal Committee because I notice they are scheduled to meet Nov. 20. Hopefully, one of them will be able to answer my question.
Thank you.
Deborah Sumner
PS Am also adding Sen. Morse and Soucy because they didn’t answer the question I asked them (and House leaders) nearly a year ago.
Begin forwarded message:
From: Deborah Sumner
Subject: Report of Fraud by SoS office
Date: October 26, 2020 at 11:32:35 AM EDT
To:
Dear Legislative Budget Assistant, Audit Division
I first became aware of what looks like fraud in Dec. 2019 because the NH AG is not enforcing a federal law (required by HAVA). Reported to him in Sept. 2017.
I emailed the AG, legislative leaders and my reps and senator Dec. 12 (Subject: Federal Law Violation: Who Should Investigate?)
It now appears that NH has been illegally disenfranchising unknowable thousands of voters since Jan. 2006 and that our NH elections have been subject to at least four KNOWN possibilities for election fraud with over voted ballots with the AccuVote system NH uses. Those specifics are known by the SoS, AG, NH governor and others and yet the AG still refuses to enforce the law.
Apparently, NH accepted federal HAVA money which REQUIRED that compliance (and eliminated three of those fraud possibilities) and it appears individuals in the SoS and AG office mislead the federal government.
WHO should investigate what appears to be an extremely significant error by the Attorney General and Secretary of State? A state agency, or should this be referred to a federal agency for investigation?
Part of the requirement for receiving the federal funds was a 5% state matching amount, which was predicted to be nearly $790,000.
Since then, it has become clear that the USDOJ is not enforcing the law (but has put nothing in writing), either (first reported to USDOJ May 2018) and the Election Assistance Commission has no enforcement authority.
However, since this sure looks like fraud (NH said it would comply, received the money, no evidence it ever intended to comply) is your agency where I should report this (re: the state funds matching piece)?
Thank you. I’m including an overview and the evidence NH is NOT currently in compliance with this federal law requirement. Both the AG and SoS Gardner rejected the restorative justice proposal, which is still an option as far as I’m concerned.
If this is not the place for me to report it, is there a RIGHT place to do so?
Deborah Sumner
Contact info removed
<HAVA-OV overviewFINAL.pdf>
<NHHAVA05.pdf>
2) Feb. 7 communication (Senator Riccardi declined my request to make sure AG Formella received this)
Feb. 7, 2025, copied to Jaffrey representatives, senator and five citizens
Dear Attorney General Formella,
Former AG Joseph Foster and Secretary of State Bill Gardner made a mistake in 2016 re: former town moderator NAME REMOVED (which was recently used to support the state’s argument in the Danville case). The mistake was probably unintentional by Mr. Foster, who signed the letter without having the background moderator, Bill Gardner and I had. I don’t believe Foster’s or Gardner’s intent was abuse, but here we are today, with an abusive election system that is anti-voter. Now we see the system is also anti-local election officials and anti-legislators who are pro-voter.
I wouldn’t recommend Mr. Foster or Anne Edwards as attorneys for anyone I know. But I got to see the real Bill Gardner as he gave the eulogy for a mutual friend, long-time legislator Betty Hall. He called her a “democracy warrior.” Indeed she was. I knew of Betty’s love for Gardner from the stories she shared (they started out as new legislators on the same legislative committee). But here, clearly, I knew that love was mutual.
He spoke without notes, with humor, great feeling, with a special glow, His sharing then lead others to share their stories of this incredible lady, the legacy Betty has left NH because she survived the political game and remained her real self in doing so. Bill Gardner wasn’t allowed to be/do that. People I am working with now to regain the voting rights that have been stolen from us, are now recipients of her gift as we continue her work and those who worked before us.
NAME REMOVED reached out to your office previously, but perhaps you didn’t get her message (Anne Edwards and Myles Matteson responded FOR you, they said).
Would you contact her now and take the first step toward an election system that is on the voters’ side, the vision I believe Betty and Bill shared but were prevented from doing so by people who had a different agenda.
I am copying my legislators and ask them to make sure you get this message.
Below, is a communication I sent you and then-Election Law Committee Chair Barbara Griffin in hopes of starting to solve our real problem and prevent it from getting bigger. The bill passed and indeed, our problem has gotten much bigger.
You may not have received that message either.
Respectfully,
Deborah Sumner
Contact information removed
Begin forwarded message:
From: Deborah Sumner
Subject: Resolving two issues: Derry moderator, HB 1567
Date: March 13, 2022 at 6:29:19 AM EDT
To: barbara...@leg.state.nh.us, John.F...@doj.nh.gov, attorne...@doj.nh.gov
Dear Rep. Griffin and Mr. Formella,
I lost trust in our election system in 2010 because of actions by the secretary of state and failure of the attorney general to define the line he should not cross. I have been trying for 12 years to regain that lost trust, but I can’t do it without your help.
The three of us should have a shared interest in elections we all have reason to trust and be proud of. Working together, we can achieve it.
If either of you do NOT want that, I ask you to resign from your positions now so people who do can replace you.
I don’t have the option of resigning from my government.
If you are willing to help me begin to regain my badly damaged trust, here are two things you can do.
1. Correct the Attorney General’s 2016 error re: the town moderator
2. Do not make the mistake of trying to pass the amended version of HB 1567
Here are my best ideas of how to do that and I’d be glad to talk with you further.
1. I have provided evidence to the AG that the Secretary of State violated at least two laws, RSA 641:31 and RSA 666:3, both misdemeanors. Without acknowledging any state fault, Mr. Formella could use the restorative justice remedy option available under Chapter 21-M:8-k and work out the specifics of an agreement with NAME REMOVED.
Amend RSA 659:77 to make due process rights re: alleged law violations consistent with guidelines the AG uses for other alleged violations of election laws.
2. Rep. Griffin could withdraw the amendment to HB 1567 or say she now realizes it was a mistake and urge lawmakers to vote against it.
I am a former teacher and made LOTS of mistakes. However, I learned from my good teachers, a couple of good administrators, parents, teaching colleagues and students. I expected my students to acknowledge and learn from their mistakes and I acknowledged mine to them.
I apologized to them more than once!
“Pobody’s nerfect,” we teachers used to say. I wanted a classroom community where we respected, trusted and were accountable to each other.
With support, it’s easy for children to acknowledge their mistakes and learn from them. Adults need that same kind of support.
I also apologized to at least one parent. The superintendent once tried to get my principal to apologize to me, but he couldn’t do that.
“Some people can’t change,” the superintendent told me and he didn’t know how to help. I took a year’s leave of absence and with the superintendent’s help, worked out an agreement of how the principal and I would deal with our differences in the future if I returned.
The principal left the next year and I found out the superintendent had worked behind the scenes to get him to leave.
I could have returned, but the damage had been done. I couldn’t trust that I wouldn’t be treated with such disrespect again because that was the nature of power politics in schools.
NAME REMOVED deserves the Secretary of State and Attorney General’s apology, but like my former administrator, they can’t.
So we citizens apologized to her and town officials for the mistake the AG and SoS were unable to acknowledge.
NH needs an AG and SoS who treat local election officials and the public with respect, who want to earn our trust.
I would like both Mr. Formella and Mr. Scanlan to resign, because neither of them show they care about the public’s trust in them or our elections.
I hope NH’s next AG and SoS will have those essential qualifications.
I’m attaching a poster that was always at the center of my classroom. It’s not just the “ideal” of democracy. My students showed me it is achievable when there is mutual trust and respect among group members and people WANT to resolve problems.
I hope you will choose to help me restore my lost trust in elections, the offices of Secretary of State and attorney general, and legislative election law committees.
Respectfully,
Deborah Sumner
3) Feb. 8 communication sent to citizens
From: Deborah Sumner
Subject: Our NH Elections: The Case for Truth and Reconciliation, My Truth
Date: February 8, 2025 at 10:33:31 AM EST
To: undisclosed-recipients:, copies to Jaffrey representatives and senator, town administrator
"It will be hard to convince those who have mastered the power over political game to benefit their party to the power with dance that benefits the public. I hope some of them will join our side. If they will, I predict many legislators will feel confident enough to join us.” recent communication to members of Moderator Support Group formed after the November election
Dear NAMES REMOVED and the town of Danville,
WHY did Bill Gardner sign the Oct. 2016 letter to NAME REMOVED? He couldn’t have known, as I did, that she was set up by Scanlan with help from others. (I would call it a “conspiracy.”) She was honoring her oath of office as Wally and other moderators had done.
After many miles of writing, I have figured it out. He had signed that letter and then realized, if he acknowledged his mistake, as citizens encouraged him to do, that would have damaged his credibility. Did he know that he was damaging hers in her community and with the legislature? I can’t imagine that was his intent. He had made a mistake and couldn’t acknowledge it.
She didn’t go away, as people who have genuine integrity often don’t. It must have been hard for him to oppose her first “trust but verify” bill in that Senate hearing, saying that “NH would be the laughing stock of the country" if it allowed local moderators to do that. And again in 2021, when Wally’s daughter testified in support of the fourth and final attempt. Neither he nor Scanlan said anything in the hearing, the Derry town clerk opposed it. Gardner did say something in a sub-committee on another bill when NAME REMOVED was present. In the previous meeting, both Sen. Soucy and Sen. Gray had said they thought moderators should be able to do that check. The same rep who had filed part of the complaint against NAME REMOVED was also in that meeting.
The pressure he must have been under….he caved, just like my town moderator caved before the Nov. 2010 election. The anti-voters won that round.
In his wildest dreams, could Gardner EVER have predicted that the Oct. 2016 letter would become the basis of the judge’s opinion in the Danville case? NO! If he had known, would he have signed that letter? I don’t know.
He didn’t know NAME REMOVED personally and didn’t talk with her about what happened in her town. However, Katherine Prudhomme O’Brien and another state rep candidate did talk with both Gardner and Scanlan. KPO sent “evidence” she said backed up one of her claims directly to the SoS, not the AG. IF Gardner had talked with NAME REMOVEDI don’t believe he would have signed the letter.
Did the DoJ intentionally help Scanlan? Attorney-client privilege would prevent us from knowing. But, as I communicated to AG Formella, my Jaffrey reps and senator and 5 citizens yesterday “…here we are today, with an abusive election system that is anti-voter. Now we see the system is also anti-election local officials and anti-legislators who are pro-voter.”
My conclusion from more than 10 years watching from the sidelines, talking with and learning from lots of people: Scanlan and his allies look for every opportunity to gain more authority for the “state” and less say for us citizens in our “democracy.”
Members of BOTH political parties are trying to follow the unwritten rules of a horrible system. We should be able to forgive MOST of them for not knowing how to stop the game, let alone change the rules.
Since 2020, it is the R leadership that is winning that game. I have no reason to believe the rank and file are against us voters…and I expect many of them want to be on our side on this one. We’ll see if they have the courage to stand up for us and honor their oaths of office.
Confession: Finally (this morning) I realized how I probably contributed to what happened to the three of you and why NH looks like such an anit-voter state.
I suspect information I shared with my town selectboard was also shared by one individual with Scanlan, who would have had plenty of time to figure out how to use that information against NAME REMOVED and Derry voters in September of 2016.
I am sorry that I unintentionally have contributed to the harms you, your communities and IMO, ALL NH VOTERS have suffered. I am now being more selective in giving information ONLY to those I believe are in public service to serve the public.
Debbie
PS to citizens. The next step is up to AG Formella and every one of us. IF you are anti-voter, anti-local election official OR anti legislator who is pro-voter, please ask me to take you off this list. Our government can get rid of people who want to do what’s right for the public, but they can’t get rid of us unless we choose to go away.