User:Numbersinstitute/sandbox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Table of state audit rules[edit]

List of Election Audit Practices in the US
State[1][2][3] Number of Contests Audited Sample Size Which Units Are Sampled? Excluded from Audits Method of Auditing Ballots Do Audits Revise Election Outcomes? Deadline, days after election day Level of Discrepancy to Trigger Action Action if Discrepancy State Gets Report? Law Rules 2020 Population, Millions
California All 1% batches or precincts Ballots tallied after election night (1/3 of ballots)[4] Hand tally No Before finalize No rules Report[5] Yes Cal. Elec. Code §336.5, §15360 15365-15367 No rules for 1%. RLA:2 CCR 7-2 40
Texas 6-Sec. of State chooses 3 races & 3 ballot items at least 1% or 3 precincts Paperless machines, which many counties use Hand tally Maybe 21 Any Try to determine cause Yes Tex. Election Code Ann. §127.201 (Vernon 2015) Election Advisory No. 2012-03 29
Florida all by machine, or 1 by hand, randomly chosen by each county 20%-100% by machine or 2% by hand precincts Tally with machines different from voting system or by hand No Before finalize No rules Report Yes Fla. Stat. Ann. §101.591 22
New York All 3% machines Tally with machines different from voting system or by hand Yes 15 Any Expand sample in stages to full recount. Just the affected office Yes N.Y. Election Law § 9-211 (McKinney 2015) 9 N.Y. Comp. Rules & Regs. 6210.18 20
Pennsylvania All lesser of 2% or 2,000 ballots No rules Hand tally Maybe Before finalize No rules Expand, starting 2022[6] No Pa. Cons. Stat. tit. 25 §3031.17 and Stein settlement[6] Directive Concerning the Use, Implementation and Operation of Electronic Voting Systems 13
Illinois All 5% precincts & machines Tally with machines the optical ballots, which are common, others by hand or different machine from election No Before finalize Any Report Yes Il. Rev. Stat. ch. 10 §5/24A-15, 10 §5/24C-15 12.8
Ohio 3-President or Governor, random state-wide, random county-wide at least 5% of votes machines, precincts or polling places odd-numbered years Hand tally Yes Before finalize 0.5% (0.2% if winning margin under 1%) Expand sample. Sec. of State may order full recount of county Yes Secretary of State Directive 2014-36,[3] 2015 Election Official Manual settlement agreement in League of Women Voters, et al. v. Brunner, Case No. 3:05-CV-7309, US N.District of Ohio 11.8
Georgia 1-chosen by SOS, nonrandom risk-limiting. ballots Hand tally Yes Before finalize Statistical cutoffs Investigate & decide Yes 10.7
North Carolina 1-President or state-wide ballot item statistician decides precincts Hand tally Yes Before finalize Significant Expand sample to whole county, all races No N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. §163-182.1 10.4
Michigan 1 statewide[7] 5% precincts Hand tally No After finalize No action Training Yes 10.1
New Jersey All federal & state offices. Atty.Gen. picks county & municipal contests 2% Batches DRE (72% of in-person), provisional & emergency ballots, so audit is mostly of mailed ballots Hand tally of paper ballots Yes December 4 0.1% Double sample of batches. More if likely to correct outcome Yes N.J. Stat. Ann. §19:61-9 9.3
Virginia 2-President & Senator, or others selected by Sec of State[8] risk-limiting machines in at least random fifth of localities (all in 2020) Primaries Hand tally No After finalize Any Analyze Yes Code of VA 24.2-671.1 8.6
Washington 1-any contest on batches or precincts, 2 in RLA, or 3 on in-person machines In most counties: 6 batches. Or county could choose 3 precincts, or 4% of in-person machines (rarely-used in all-mail state, or RLA batches, machines, or precincts Hand tally or machines different from the election machines Maybe Before finalize Any investigate & resolve Yes Wash. Rev. Code Ann. §29A.60.185, §29A.60.170 7.7
Arizona 5-President, random federal, random state-wide, random legislative, ballot measure at least 2% or 2 in person and 1% of mail & early precincts Provisionals and counties where a party refuses Hand tally Yes Before finalize Statistical committee chooses cutoffs Expand sample, up to whole county, for affected office Yes Ariz. Rev. Stat. §16-602 7.2
Massachusetts 6-President, state and national Senator and Representative, random ballot question 3% precincts Primaries & non-Presidential years Hand tally Maybe 14 Cast doubt on outcome Sec. of State may expand audit Yes Mass. Gen. Law Ann. ch. 54 § 109A 7.0
Tennessee 1-President or Governor in general 1 to 5 precincts 59% lack paper ballots Tally paper ballots with same method as election day, different optical scanner No Begins day after election day 1% Expand sample to 3% of precincts. Then no action, but audit is evidence in court No Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-20-103 6.9
Indiana All up to 5% or 5 precincts 34% lack paper ballots. Elsewhere no audit unless requested by a party chair in county If requested by party chair, hand tally paper ballots or use machine different from voting system Yes 12 No rules Correct errors No Indiana Code §3-12-5-14, §3-11-13-39 6.8
Maryland ? by hand, All on images 1%-2% by hand, and 100% of images precincts and all images Hand tally sample, and independent machines re-tally all ballot images from election machines[9] No 120, after finalize Any Investigate and resolve Yes Code of Md. Regs. §33.08.05 6.18
Missouri 5-state-wide candidate & ballot issue, legislator, judicial, county 5% precincts Hand tally Maybe Before finalize 0.50% Investigate and resolve Yes 15 Mo. Code of State Regs. §30-10.110 6.15
Wisconsin 4-President or Governor, and 3 random state contests 5% wards or other districts reporting results Primaries and early, absentee, provisional Hand tally No Before finalize Any If no explanation, get manufacturer to investigate Yes Wis. Stat. Ann. §7.08(6) Wisconsin Elections Commission Voting Equipment Audits 5.9
Colorado All contests are checked, but sample is enough for only 2 contests: 1 statewide, 1 in each county (in primary: 1/party/county)[10][11] non-randomly chosen by Sec. of State risk-limiting based on target contests, so may be too few for other contests ballots Hand-compare ballots to computer records, and SOS tally of computer records Maybe Before finalize Statistical cutoffs 100% hand tally of whichever of the 2 target contests has errors, not others Yes Colo. Rev. Stat. §1-7-515 Colo. Sec. of State Election Rule 25 5.8
Minnesota 2-3-Governor & federal 3% or at least 2-4 precincts Hand count Hand tally Yes Before finalize 0.5% or 2 votes Expand samples for Governor & federal up to whole county, and if counties with 10% of state's ballots discover problems in a race, hand-count affected race statewide Yes Minn. Stat. Ann. §206.89 5.7
South Carolina 0 No audit, though all voters have paper ballots 5.1
Alabama 0 No audit, though state has paper ballots 5.0
Louisiana 0 No audit, and state lacks paper ballots 4.7
Kentucky ? 3% to 5% of ballots. Also process & eligibility audits in 6 counties by AG[12][13] precincts & counties Many counties using paperless machines for voters with disabilities, so those votes not audited Hand tally paper ballots Yes Before finalize No rules No rules Yes Ky. Rev. Stat. §117.383(8), §15.243(3) 4.5
Oregon 2-3: heaviest vote in each county, statewide office & ballot measure 3% to 10% depending on margin of victory precincts with 150 or more ballots Small precincts Hand tally, except small precincts Yes in counties with discrepancies Before finalize 0.50% Expand sample to whole county for that vote tally system, all races Yes Or. Rev. Stat. §254.529 4.2
Oklahoma 0 No audit, though voters without disabilities have paper ballots; voters with disabilities do not 4.0
Connecticut 3-President or Governor and 2 other races; 20% of races in primaries and municipal ballots 5% voting districts Early, absentee, provisional Tally with machines or by hand Maybe Before finalize 0.50% Investigate and if needed recount county with mix of hand and machine counts Yes Conn. Gen. Stat. §9-320f 3.6
Utah All 1% machines Hand tally No Before finalize Any Record reasons Yes Election Policy Directive from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor 3.27
Iowa 1-President or Governor 1 precinct per county[14] precincts Hand tally No After canvass No rules Report Yes HB 516, enacted in 2017 3.19
Nevada All 2% or 3% machines Tally with machines or by hand No 7 No rules No rules Yes Nev. Admin. Code 293.255, Nev. Rev. Stat. §293.247 3.10
Arkansas 1-President[15] 2-11 in each of 5 counties[15][16][17] tabulation machines Hand tally No 60 No rules No rules Public AR Code Arkansas Code §7-4-121 and uncodified section 5 in Act 888 3.01
Mississippi 0 No audit, and most counties lack paper ballots 2.96
Kansas 3-4 1% precincts Hand tally Yes Before finalize No rules resolve or expand 2.94
New Mexico 3-4: federal, governor & closest statewide race None in race with over 15% margin of victory, otherwise enough for 90% confidence precincts Hand tally Yes Before finalize error over 90% of the margin of victory Expand sample, up to whole state for affected office Yes N.M. Stat. Ann. §1-14-13.2 et seq. 2.12
Nebraska 3-nonrandom, 1 each federal, state, local 2% precincts Hand tally if requested by Sec of State, method unclear Maybe No rule Unclear Report Yes 1.96
West Virginia All 3% precincts Hand tally Yes Before finalize 1% or changed outcome Expand sample to whole county, all races No W. Va. Code, §3-4A-28 2016 Best Practices Guide for Canvass and Recount 1.84
Idaho 0 No audit unless recount happens Idaho Code §34-2313 1.79
Hawaii 3-state-wide, county-wide, district-wide 10% precincts Hand tally Yes Before finalize Any Expand audit until staff are satisfied with results Yes Hawaii Rev. Stat. §16-42, Haw. Admin. Rules § 3-172-102 1.46
New Hampshire 0 No audit, though all voters have paper ballots 1.38
Maine 0 No audit, though all voters have paper ballots. 1.36
Rhode Island Some, nonrandom risk-limiting Precinct, batch or ballot Hand tally Yes Before finalize Statistical cutoffs Expand sample to full recount Yes R.I. Stat. Ann. §17-19-37.4 1.10
Montana 4-random federal, state-wide, legislative, ballot measure at least 5% or 1 precincts Hand tally Yes in precincts audited Before finalize 0.5% or 5 votes Expand sample but not full recount except in small counties with up to 7 precincts. Check machines with errors Yes Mont. Code Ann. §13-17-503 1.08
Delaware All on half of sample, 1 statewide contest on half of sample 2 machines per county, 3 districts in Wilmington machines and districts Hand tally No After finalize 0.50% further tests of same machine, sometimes another Yes 0.99
South Dakota 0 No audit, though all voters have paper ballots 0.89
North Dakota 0 No audit, though all voters have paper ballots 0.78
Alaska All 1 per House district, with at least 5% of district ballots, so about 600 registered voters large precincts Small precincts Hand tally Yes Before finalize 1% Expand sample to whole district (1/40th of state), all races Yes Alaska Stat. §15.15.430 0.73
District of Columbia 4-random District-wide, 2-ward-wide, 1 any type 5% precincts & ballots Hand count Hand tally Yes Before finalize 0.25% or 20% of margin of victory Expand sample, up to whole county, for affected office Yes D.C. Code Ann. §1-1001.09a 0.69
Vermont All All in 6 towns polling places All but 6 towns Sec.of State randomly picks 6 towns to re-scan & machine-tally all contests[18] Also rule to hand tally ballots which were hand tallied on election day. No 30 Any Investigate Yes 17 Vt. Stat. Ann. §2493, §2581 - §2588 0.64
Wyoming 0 No audit, though all voters have paper ballots 0.58


  1. ^ "Audit Law Database". Verified Voting. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  2. ^ National Conference of State Legislatures. "Post-Election Audits". www.ncsl.org. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  3. ^ US Census Bureau. "State Population Totals: 2010-2017". www.census.gov. Archived from the original on 2018-03-06. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  4. ^ In 2018 California law changed to audit only ballots in the Semifinal Official Canvass, which covers election night. They exclude ballots arriving in the mail after election day, and counties may also exclude any of the earlier mailed and provisional ballots which they do not have time to count by election night. News story on the law, and the law itself, are below. Semifinal Official Canvass included 57% of ballots 3/3/2020 and 69% 11/3/2020. Each county could choose to audit one or more within-county contests on a statistical sample of all ballots, but would still need 1% tally of all other contests (ELEC 15365 - 15367)
  5. ^ "Los Angeles Post Election Manual Tally Audit Summary Information" (PDF). calvoter.org/issues/votingtech/manualcount.html. 2010-08-20. Retrieved 2018-04-24.
  6. ^ a b "Stein v. Cortes, No. 2:16-CV-6287-PD" (PDF). PAcounties.org. 2018-11-28.
  7. ^ "Michigan Legislature - Section 168.31a". www.legislature.mi.gov. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  8. ^ Virginia State Bd of Elections (2021-03-31). "Risk-Limiting Audit Report" (PDF). Virginia Dept of Elections. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  9. ^ Lamone, Linda (2016-12-22). "Joint Chairman's Report on the 2016 Post-Election Tabulation Audit" (PDF). Maryland State Board of Elections. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  10. ^ Casias, Danny (2017-11-08). "Audited contests in each county for 2017 RLA (XLSX)". www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/auditCenter.html. Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference co1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "AG Beshear announces results of random General Election audit for voting irregularities, investigations". Northern Kentucky Tribune. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  13. ^ Spears, Hailey (2020-11-18). "AG Daniel Cameron Randomly Selects Counties for Post-Election Audit". Spectrum News 1. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  14. ^ Hanson, Ric (2020-11-12). "Post Election Audit results from Montgomery County". KJAN Radio Atlantic. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  15. ^ a b "Post-Election Audit Report 2020 Pilot Program" (PDF). Arkansas State Bd of Election Commissioners. 2021-03-03. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  16. ^ "2019 Act 888, Arkansas Senate Bill 524" (PDF). Arkansas Legislature. 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  17. ^ Ramlagan,, Nadia (2020-12-01). "Arkansas Begins 2020 Election-Audit Pilot Program". KASU. Retrieved 2021-10-01.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  18. ^ "Secretary of State Jim Condos to Conduct Election Audit". www.vermont.gov. 2016-11-22. Archived from the original on 2018-09-30. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Numbersinstitute/sandbox&oldid=1047645465"