Case Study: Auditing the Vote (March 2007)

This, the 17th electionline Briefing, explores the issue of post-election audits in a number of states. Like so many other issues in election administration, the study finds that rules governing the practice vary greatly across borders as does the size of the sample, public access and scrutiny and response to disparities between vote counts and audit findings. While one state might require that 5 percent of all precincts audit ballots by hand, another might require a review of election-related procedures, including polling-place activities logged on machines, “zero tapes” from the start of the day and final tallies to make sure the counters tabulated results correctly.

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