CHESTER, N.H. — Steven D’Angelo, a state representative whose name was left off of 91 absentee ballots sent to voters after being misprinted by the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office, has endorsed challenger Colin Van Ostern for the office of Secretary of State, which will be elected by the incoming New Hampshire legislature on Dec. 5.
“Last month, Secretary Bill Gardner left my name off of the official absentee ballots that were sent to 91 voters, weeks after his office was informed of the error. It’s time for a new Secretary of State, and I urge legislators of both parties to support Colin Van Ostern for the role in next month’s election” said D’Angelo.
“Despite being left off of the ballot completely in absentee ballots printed for three towns, I never heard from the Secretary of State about this error. To this day, I do not know how many of the 91 misprinted ballots sent to voters were counted, how many of the voters instead used the corrected ballots that were sent to them later, and how many returned neither ballot out of confusion.
“It was frustrating and troubling when the Secretary of State’s office described this error as “routine,” and I was upset that they tried to shift the blame first to local town clerks, even though they misprinted ballots for five different towns in New Hampshire.
“Even without the resources of a state office, Colin Van Ostern’s political staff notified the Secretary of State’s office of this error on Sept. 14, and the Secretary of State’s office sent out the misprinted ballots weeks later anyway – that just is wrong and someone needs to be held accountable.
“I understand that I lost by more votes than the total number of misprinted ballots – but the point is that every vote cast in error is a blow against our fair elections, and this could happen in any race. I have yet to hear a good reason or an acceptable answer for what happened. The buck stops at the top and it’s time for a new Secretary of State.”
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