Independent New Hampshire Journalism · Northfield, NHState law sets the fee, bans machines from the count and gives the loser three days to appeal. The Legislature those ballots elected votes on a secretary of state on Dec. 2, 2026.
Ten dollars. That is what RSA 660:2 charges a candidate for state representative to have every ballot in the race counted again by hand, as long as the gap is under 1 percent of the ballots cast. After the Nov. 3, 2026 election, 16 House candidates asked for a recount, the New Hampshire Bulletin reported, and the counting began on Nov. 9 at the State Archives in Concord.
Some of the gaps are as small as a gap gets. In four of the 12 races the Bulletin described in detail, two votes separated the last winner from the first loser. Two votes in Kingston. Two in Derry, where 20 candidates ran for ten seats.
None of this will decide who runs the House. The Bulletin put the new chamber at 291 Democrats to 108 Republicans; NHPR, citing the House clerk, reported that Democrats may hold 292 seats to the Republicans’ 107, with one independent. A handful of two-vote races cannot move a margin like that. The recounts matter for a plainer reason. They are the one point in an election where the state shows its work, ballot by ballot, in front of the people who lost. The law that makes it happen is short, specific and cheap to invoke.
Related coverage: Granite State Report’s Nov. 11, 2026 report, 424 Lawmakers Will Choose New Hampshire’s Election Chief. The Ballot Is Secret by Custom., covers the Dec. 2, 2026 vote for secretary of state; this piece covers the recount law that office carries out.
What $10 buys
RSA 660:1 opens the door wide. Any candidate who received a vote in a state general election may apply for a recount if the gap between that candidate and the winner is less than 20 percent of the ballots cast in the towns that make up the district. The application goes to the secretary of state in writing by the Friday after the election. For this election that was Nov. 6, 2026.
RSA 660:2 sets the price, and the price depends on the office and the gap.
GSR ran the 12 races the Bulletin detailed against that table. The statute measures the gap against total ballots cast, a number the news reports do not give. But a district cannot have fewer ballots than its top candidate has votes, so dividing each gap by the largest vote total reported for the race gives a ceiling on the percentage. By that test, 11 of the 12 gaps are under 1 percent for certain, which means a $10 fee. The twelfth, a 116-vote gap in the district covering Loudon, Boscawen and Canterbury, comes to no more than 2.4 percent, which means a fee of $10, $20 or $40.
Add it up and the fee table puts the state’s take from those 12 recounts between $120 and $150. If all 16 requests fall in the lowest tier, the total is $160. A candidate who applies and wins gets the fee back within 10 days under RSA 660:6.
The fee is a filing charge. It does not pretend to cover the work. GSR found no published figure, in the statute or in the coverage reviewed for this article, for what a House recount costs the state to run.
Hands only
Once the applications are in, the clock belongs to the state. RSA 660:4 says a recount must begin no later than the Wednesday after the application deadline, and it must happen in Concord. The outer limit this year was Nov. 11, 2026, which was Veterans Day. The count started two days before that.
RSA 660:5 describes the count itself. State police collect the ballots. The secretary of state and his assistants count them by looking at each one. The statute leaves no room for a scanner: “No mechanical, optical, or electronic device shall be used for the counting of ballots.” Candidates, their counsel and their assistants may inspect the ballots. A candidate, or the candidate’s counsel or designee, may protest how any one of them is counted. The secretary of state rules on each protest.
Secretary of State David Scanlan told WMUR on Nov. 9 that volunteers serve as counters for his office. “This is citizen participation at its best,” he said. WMUR also reported that the recounts kicked off along with a broader audit of votes in the governor’s race.
Twelve gaps, two answers so far
By the afternoon of Nov. 10, the Bulletin reported, two recounts were finished. In Farmington, two votes separated the second winner from the next candidate in a four-way race for two seats. In the district covering Moultonborough, Brookfield and Tamworth, the gap was also two. Both recounts confirmed the winners from election night.
The Lakes Region has more on the list. In the district made up of Gilmanton, Gilford and part of Laconia, eight candidates ran for four seats and 24 votes separated the last winner from the first loser. In Franklin’s three wards the gap was three votes.
Scanlan expects the work to take two weeks, the Bulletin reported. Poll watchers from both parties observe the counting, it said. WMUR reported the recounts were scheduled to run through Nov. 20, 2026.
History says to expect little change, with a caution about how far one year’s record reaches. The secretary of state’s posted list for the 2020 general election shows 16 recounts for state Senate, House and Executive Council seats. Twelve ended with no change in the winners. Four were called off before they were finished. No 2020 recount that ran to the end changed a winner.
Three days to appeal, 60 days of ballots
A candidate gets one recount. RSA 660:3 says so, and it makes the secretary of state’s declaration final unless the loser appeals to the Ballot Law Commission.
The appeal window is short. Under RSA 665:8, II, a candidate the recount shows as the loser has three days from the declaration to file a written appeal. The commission reviews the secretary of state’s rulings on protested ballots and can change the result. It cannot start over. The statute says the commission may not order a second recount in any case.
RSA 660:16 requires the state to keep the ballots for at least 60 days after a recount. The same section exempts ballots from RSA 91-A, the Right-to-Know Law. So the recount room is where the checking happens. Candidates and their representatives can watch each ballot counted. Nobody can file a records request a month later and ask to see the ballots.
The referee’s own election
One fact about this process sits outside chapter 660. The secretary of state, who counts the ballots, rules on the protests and declares the winner, is not elected by voters. The Legislature chooses the secretary by joint ballot, and that vote is set for Dec. 2, 2026. The lawmakers casting it include the winners of the races being recounted in November.
That arrangement comes from the state constitution. It is also the reason the Ballot Law Commission’s review matters: a disputed ruling on a ballot gets a second set of eyes that do not belong to the office that made it.
One more note for readers who look up the statute. The source notes on RSA 660:1, 660:2, 660:3 and 660:6 show each was last amended by chapter 102 of the Laws of 2025, effective June 17, 2025. This article describes the law as it reads now.
What to watch, and when
Three dates are left. The recount schedule runs through Nov. 20, 2026. Each declaration opens a three-day window for an appeal to the Ballot Law Commission. And on Dec. 2, 2026, the Legislature votes on a secretary of state.
Ten dollars buys a losing candidate a hand count the candidate can watch. What the count costs everyone else is a number the state has not put in front of the public, as far as GSR could find.
Your Turn
Discuss: Is $10 the right price for a hand recount of a state representative race, or should the fee track what the count costs?
Discuss: Ballots are exempt from the Right-to-Know Law. Should they stay that way once the 60-day retention period ends?
You tell us: Did you watch a recount at the State Archives, or count at one? Tell us what you saw. granitestatereport@gmail.com
Fact check
| # | Claim | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A candidate may apply for a recount when the gap is less than 20 percent of ballots cast in the district’s towns; the application is due the Friday after the election. | VERIFIED | RSA 660:1, gc.nh.gov |
| 2 | Recount fees for state representative are $10, $20 and $40 by tier; the other offices’ fees are as listed; above 3 percent the candidate agrees in writing to pay additional costs. | VERIFIED | RSA 660:2, gc.nh.gov |
| 3 | A candidate may have only one recount; the declaration is final subject to appeal to the Ballot Law Commission. | VERIFIED | RSA 660:3, gc.nh.gov |
| 4 | A recount must begin no later than the Wednesday after the application deadline, in Concord. | VERIFIED | RSA 660:4, gc.nh.gov |
| 5 | State police collect the ballots; the count is by visual inspection; no mechanical, optical or electronic device may be used; candidates may inspect and protest; the secretary of state rules on protests. | VERIFIED | RSA 660:5, gc.nh.gov |
| 6 | An applicant who wins the recount gets the fee back within 10 days. | VERIFIED | RSA 660:6, gc.nh.gov |
| 7 | Ballots are kept at least 60 days after a recount and are exempt from RSA 91-A. | VERIFIED | RSA 660:16, gc.nh.gov |
| 8 | A losing candidate has three days to appeal to the Ballot Law Commission, which reviews rulings on protested ballots and may not order a second recount. | VERIFIED | RSA 665:8, II, gc.nh.gov |
| 9 | RSA 660:1, 660:2, 660:3 and 660:6 were last amended by Laws 2025, chapter 102, effective June 17, 2025. | VERIFIED | Source notes, RSA chapter 660, gc.nh.gov |
| 10 | Sixteen House candidates asked for recounts; counting began Nov. 9, 2026 at the State Archives in Concord; two were finished by the afternoon of Nov. 10 and confirmed the winners; Scanlan expects two weeks; poll watchers from both parties observe. | ATTRIBUTED | New Hampshire Bulletin, William Skipworth, Nov. 10, 2026 |
| 11 | The first-count gaps in the 12 races shown in the chart, and the candidate and seat counts in Derry, Farmington and the Gilmanton-Gilford-Laconia district. | ATTRIBUTED | New Hampshire Bulletin, Nov. 10, 2026; gaps computed by GSR from its reported totals. Its totals for Grafton-Alexandria-Hebron, 1,130 and 1,137, differ by seven; its text is unclear on which candidate led, so only the gap is used |
| 12 | Eleven of the 12 gaps are under 1 percent of ballots cast; the twelfth is no more than 2.4 percent; fees for the 12 total $120 to $150. | ATTRIBUTED | GSR arithmetic, recomputed in code, on the Bulletin’s reported totals and the RSA 660:2 fee table; an inference from the fee table, not a reported receipt |
| 13 | The new House stands at 291 Democrats to 108 Republicans by one count; by another, Democrats may hold 292 seats to 107, with one independent. | ATTRIBUTED | New Hampshire Bulletin, Nov. 10, 2026; NHPR, Todd Bookman, updated Nov. 6, 2026 |
| 14 | Scanlan said volunteers serve as counters and called the process citizen participation at its best; recounts were scheduled through Nov. 20; the recounts kicked off along with an audit of the governor’s race. | ATTRIBUTED | WMUR, Adam Sexton, Nov. 9, 2026 |
| 15 | The 2020 general election list shows 16 recounts: 12 with no change in winners and four called off before completion. | VERIFIED | N.H. Secretary of State, “Recounts – General Election” (2020), sos.nh.gov |
| 16 | The Legislature chooses the secretary of state by joint ballot; the vote is set for Dec. 2, 2026. | ATTRIBUTED | Granite State Report, Nov. 11, 2026, citing N.H. Const. pt. II, art. 67 |
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Editor’s note. The statutory claims above rest on the text of RSA chapters 660, 665 and 91-A as posted by the New Hampshire General Court. Race totals, the count of recount requests and the schedule are attributed to the New Hampshire Bulletin, WMUR and NHPR; the Bulletin and NHPR give different seat counts for the new House and both are shown. The Bulletin’s totals for the Grafton-Alexandria-Hebron race differ by seven votes and its text is unclear on which candidate led, so this article uses only the gap. Fee totals are GSR’s arithmetic from the statute’s fee table, not reported receipts. The 2020 figures come from the Secretary of State’s posted recount list. Corrections: Granite State Report corrects verified errors promptly and appends a note identifying what changed and when.
