Post-Election Audits

The state and county boards of elections conduct audits after every election. Audits can detect problems such as equipment tampering, ballot stuffing, and voting machine or counting errors. The State Board of Elections constantly strives to improve its post-election audits using best practices among elections experts and experiences of other states.

Sample Audit: The sample audit count is a test to ensure voting equipment read the voter’s choices accurately. It compares the machine counts with hand-to-eye counts conducted by elections officials in randomly selected voting sites. The sample audit count is open to the public and is completed before canvass. The hand-to-eye counts required for this process are not recounts, although they are similar processes. The day after the election, the State Board of Elections informs each county of their assigned contest and the two randomly selected samples (Election Day precinct, one-stop site, or absentee by mail ballots) to audit. For a presidential election, the contest audited is always the presidential contest. Selected ballots are hand-counted by a bipartisan team of trained volunteers. The hand-counted results are compared to the tabulated results and any variances are noted. Permitted variances include the following situations:

1.   The write-in oval was not filled in, but a candidate’s name was written in, or

2.  The machine did not count a choice that was represented by check marks or Xs or that was poorly shaded.The         county sends the machine counts and hand counts to the state along with an explanation of any discrepancies.