Politics
Secretary of the State’s office draws precincts to have statewide primary results audited
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Aug 19, 2010 - 8:54 AM

Officials from the Secretary of the State’s office joined voting rights advocates representing CT Voters Count and the League of Women Voters from across Connecticut at a public audit drawing at the Secretary of the State’s Office in Hartford on Wednesday August 18th to randomly select the voting precincts which will have election results audited following the August 10, 2010 statewide primaries.

As required by Public Act 07-194, An Act Concerning the Integrity and Security of the Voting Process, ten percent of the polling precincts used in the election are subject to an audit. All told, 722 polling precincts were used on August 10th meaning that 73 precincts will have their election results audited. There were also 10 alternate precincts selected for the post-election audit. The audits can begin no sooner than the close of business August 25, 2010 and must be completed by September 15, 2010. A complete list of precincts to be audited is attached.

The law requires a hand audit 10% of all polling places in all elections and primaries. (Polling precincts which are already part of a recount are exempt from audits by statute). The provisions in the law, developed in close cooperation with the computer science department at the University of Connecticut, give Connecticut one of the strictest audit statutes in the country. Connecticut is the first state in New England to require a comprehensive audit of election results.

Public Act 07-194 states that local Registrars of Voters, “… shall conduct a manual audit of the votes recorded in not less than ten per cent of the voting districts in the state, district or municipality, whichever is applicable. Such manual audit shall be noticed in advance and be open to public observation.” The results of audits will be analyzed by the University of Connecticut and then presented to the Secretary of the State’s Office and the State Elections Enforcement Commission, and ultimately made available to the public.

The law contains a detailed description of the audit process:

“The manual audit… shall consist of the manual tabulation of the paper ballots cast and counted by each voting machine subject to such audit. Once complete, the vote totals established pursuant to the manual tabulation shall be compared to the results reported by the voting machine on the day of the election or primary. The results of the manual tabulation shall be reported on a form prescribed by the Secretary of the State which shall include the total number of ballots counted, the total votes received by each candidate in question, the total votes received by each candidate in question on ballots that were properly completed by each voter and the total votes received by each candidate in question on ballots that were not properly completed by each voter. Such report shall be filed with the Secretary of the State who shall immediately forward such report to The University of Connecticut for analysis. The University of Connecticut shall file a written report with the Secretary of the State regarding such analysis that describes any discrepancies identified. After receipt of such report, the Secretary of the State shall file such report with the State Elections Enforcement Commission.”

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