Town clerk says Bedford to run side‑by‑side tests before choosing new voting tabulators

Town Clerk Tally Keller told the Bedford Town Council on June 25 that the elections team has seen demonstrations of two voting tabulation systems — the VotingWorks open‑source system and Dominion’s ImageCast device sold through LHS — and will conduct side‑by‑side mock elections before making a recommendation.

Keller said both products “are very, very similar” and that the local elections team was initially deadlocked. She told the council VotingWorks “has an end‑of‑night reconciliation part that is very intriguing” and that LHS has a long customer‑service relationship with many New Hampshire towns. Keller said several nearby jurisdictions have chosen each vendor but that none are closely comparable to Bedford’s mix of wards and poll locations.

The recommendation to run mock, volume tests was the primary takeaway. Keller said the tests would let election workers “go soup to nuts” — checking real‑world scan speed, adjudication of write‑ins and over‑/undervotes, and end‑of‑night reconciliation — and that both vendors agreed to accommodate a trial. She added that questions remain about how many machines the town will need and whether the digitization workflow will speed recounts or adjudication.

Council members asked practical questions about timing, costs and the state rebate available if Bedford replaces its AccuVote units. Keller said VotingWorks indicated inventory might be available in August and could be worked around if needed; she said LHS also has units and is piloting reconciliation features in some cities. On costs, Keller said there is “essentially really no cost difference” between the two vendors and noted a state rebate program running through June 30, 2026 that pays $3,500 for each AccuVote turned in — a rebate the clerk said “essentially cuts our cost in half” if Bedford trades seven machines.

Councilors discussed decision timing. Councilor Bill Carter suggested an August 31 decision deadline if the town intended to go with VotingWorks in time for March. Others emphasized the March town election as a pragmatic deadline to have equipment in hand and tested; some members said they would rely on the clerk and moderator to complete demos and report back rather than impose an immediate deadline. No motion or purchase authorization was made.

The clerk also explained operational details: both systems digitize ballots (using removable media such as USB drives or SD cards) and produce human‑readable tapes or thermal reports for reconciliation; ImageCast and VotingWorks take pictures of ballots so write‑ins can be reviewed digitally during adjudication; and one copy of media is retained locally while a duplicate can be sent to the state for backup. Keller emphasized that ballots would still be stored physically in archives per state practices and that absentee and some special ballots would continue to require hand counting.

The council did not take formal action. Members directed staff to arrange side‑by‑side mock elections and to return with test results, cost comparisons, and recommended timelines for purchase that would protect the town’s eligibility for the state rebate.