Questions unfolding throughout New Hampshire

Bev Harris
Black Box Voting.org
Tuesday January 29, 2008

1. David Scanlan - operations guy for the New Hampshire recount. Questions are always referred to Scanlan when you ask about ballot ordering, ballot reconciliation, ballot chain of custody. David Scanlan knew, or should have known, of the fraudulent labels being referred to as "seals." Why did he permit this?

WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY: "Seal": something that secures (as a wax seal on a document); a closure that must be broken to be opened and that thus reveals tampering ; a tight and perfect closure

Why is Scanlan blaming the town clerks for seals that do not adhere properly, when it was his own division that provided the seals?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHL_YMBolRs - Who's responsible for chain of custody breakdown?

Is it true that Scanlan is the one who attempted to halt the Albert Howard recount, trying to call it off for Tuesday and Wednesday this week?

Why is reconciliation (poll book examination, blank ballot counts, ballot order invoices) not being allowed right now? According to Sally Castleman (EDA), town clerks are saying there were required to send poll books to the secretary of state by Jan. 18. The sec. state's office has the documents in hand. Why not allow proper reconciliation of the ballots?

2. Do problems originate from the town clerks or "Hoppy & Butch"?

- Did Nashua Town Clerk Paul Bergeron fail to secure his ballot boxes, giving Ward 9 absentee votes to Hoppy and Butch with the lid open? Or did the lid get opened while in the custody of Hoppy and Butch? Who will take accountability for the chain of custody failure for Ward 9 absentees?

- Did Nashua Town Clerk Paul Bergeron provide a large Ward 5 ballot box to Hoppy and Butch with the top torn open, containing only 333 ballots in the large box -- with a "seal" on the box that did not match anything on the dispatch sheet? Or did something happen to this box while in the custody of Butch and Hoppy?

- Did the Bedford Town Clerk provide an improperly sealed box, sticking ballots in a medical supply box? If so, why, and if not, how did ballots appear for the recount housed in such a container?

3. Why did Secretary of State Bill Gardner fail to take any steps to mitigate the risks with Diebold 1.94w optical scan system used in New Hampshire? Why did he permit a sole source vendor, LHS Associates, to program all the memory cards, knowing that one of the key people for this vendor is a convicted narcotics trafficker? Why did Gardner agree to let ballots be stored outside the vault on the evening of Jan. 17, 2008?

When Election Defense Alliance's Sally Castleman visited town clerks on January 23, she was told by a town clerk that Sec. State Bill Gardner had issued a directive advising them not to allow citizens to photograph the ballots boxes before pickup. Does this directive exist in writing?

4. Why did Karen Ladd, of the sec. state's office, sign for a shipment of ballots from Manchester Ward 11 by herself, while the rest of the shipment was signed for publicly, in front of the building, by David Scanlan and Brian Burford? Why were one-half of Ward 11 ballots delivered six hours after all the other Manchester ballots? Why weren't they received publicly following the same protocols as the other ballots in the same shipment?

Looking for answers, looking for accountability, and looking for people to pitch in getting and sharing e-mailed or faxed written answers from New Hampshire public officials. Just jump right in. Don't call, write, get the answer committed in writing, help us get to the bottom of this. You can see details for yourself in the videos linked below.

LAST QUESTION:

Aren't we all getting sick of lack of consequences for clear breaches in duty to protect and secure the rights of the citizenry?

Videos posted at YouTube on New Hampshire so far:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHL_YMBolRs
Who's responsible for chain of custody breakdown?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKQEQ7qHvgM
No ballot vault tonight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiiaBqwqkXs
Silvestro the cat