[Voterescue] Slits in recount boxes of ballots in NH - Bev reports

[Vickie Karp]

Posted on Thursday, January 17, 2008 - 10:48 pm (by Bev Harris, Black Box
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No worries, say New Hampshire officials when cuts up to eight inches long
are spotted in newly delivered ballot boxes. "The only seal that counts
is the one on top."

Except the seal on top can be peeled off without leaving a trace, then
reaffixed.

Black Box Voting has been doing a chain of custody exam for the New
Hampshire Primary's recount. On Wednesday night, Election Defense
Alliance's Sally Castleman mentioned a troubling observation: After
following the ballots back to the ballot vault following Wednesday's
recount, she had the opportunity to enter the ballot vault, and noticed
what looked like cuts, or slits, in the side of many ballot boxes. New
Hampshire officials assured us that these cuts, which slice through the
tape and seals do not permit access to the uncounted ballots, pointing to
a label on the boxtop which they call a seal.

But the "seal" can be removed, like a Post-it, and reaffixed. So it's not
a seal all!

We wanted to know if the ballot boxes were slit while in the vault, in
the transport van, or came from the towns with slits in them.

I confirmed this morning that many if not most of the boxes scheduled to
be counted today had slits in them. I went out when a vanload of ballots
arrived, and saw that they were slit at the time they arrived by van.
Susan Pynchon and I drove to two nearby towns and watched as they handed
over their ballot boxes to "Butch and Hoppy", the two men who drive
around in the state in a van picking the ballots up. We observed as they
loaded boxes of ballots into the van with no slits at all in them. We
videotaped each of these up close. They arrived at the destination
without slits. The label on the top was affixed, but in some cases was
crumpled, or also damaged.

Of cource, the label affixed to the top can be removed and reattached
without telltale signs.

No vault tonight

A significant departure from the normal chain of custody path occurred
tonight. They decided not to use the vault to store the ballots.

More tomorrow.
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