The New Hampshire recount is revealing many significant flaws in ballot security in the Granite State. We wouldn't even be here if not for the state's shameful disposition of vote counting to a private corporation using secret vote counting software for 81% of New Hampshire votes.

This is a dark and shameful and wholly unnecessary period in New Hampshire history. New Hampshire has a long and proud tradition of grassroots democracy. We have laws supporting grassroots democracy. But our state officials and legislators have forgotten that we need to protect this heritage. So far they have refused to pass any legislation or implement any procedures to mitigate the known risks of using Diebold optical scanners. They have refused to consider whether secret vote counting is even appropriate in our state, whose Constitution mandates sorting and counting the votes in open meeting.

But anyone who says New Hampshire doesn't know how to conduct clean elections ought to watch this video of Wilton, NH conducting their hand count election in November 2004. Using teams of four people, Wilton makes sure that every ballot and every vote counted on the tally sheet is observed by at least two sets of independent eyes.

That's citizen oversight. That's checks and balances. That's democracy that works.