Concord, NH – Attorney General John M. Formella announces that the Attorney General and Secretary of State's Offices will be conducting public sessions this week to inventory ballots relating to elections investigations in Bedford and Laconia. The sessions will be conducted at the State Archives building, 9 Ratification Way, in Concord.

Bedford – Public Session 4/6/22 – Beginning at 9am

The Superior Court granted a petition and issued an order defining the process to open and tally the number of absentee ballot envelopes for the absentee ballots that were not counted in the November 2020 General Election. The purpose of the tally is to verify that the number of ballots – and the names on the affidavit envelopes – match the list created by Bedford election officials, to ensure that all voters whose ballots were not counted were properly notified. Ballot boxes will be opened to ensure that all uncounted absentee ballots are located and tallied. No affidavit envelopes will be opened showing the actual ballots and no votes will be counted. Additionally, an envelope containing ballots that were found on the morning of the 2021 Special Election will be opened, the total number of ballots in that envelope will be tallied, and the specific election in which the ballots were cast will be verified.

Laconia – Public Session 4/7/22 – Beginning at 9am

The Superior Court granted a petition and issued an order defining the process to open and tally the number of ballots found in a side emergency collection compartment on a ballot collection box for Ward 6. The purpose of the tally is to count the number of ballots and verify the elections in which they were cast. As the ballots were found in the separate side compartment—which holds ballots that are placed in it by an election official but are not processed through the Accuvote ballot counting device—it appears that the ballots were cast by voters but not counted. The petition also requests court authorization to review November 2020 General Election records to investigate the efforts election officials made to reconcile election results. Ballot boxes will be opened, however, no votes on the recovered ballots will be counted.