Performing risk-limiting audits and eliminating the process for removing excess ballots from the vote count. (FE)

Under the bill, the county clerk must complete the risk-limiting audit of each election before completing the county canvass and certifying the election results to the Elections Commission. If a risk-limiting audit of a selected contest results in a full manual tally of ballots that were cast using an electronic voting system, the vote counts according to the full manual tally will replace the reported vote counts using an electronic voting system for the purpose of determining the official results.

Finally, under current law, following each general election the Elections Commission must audit the performance of each voting system used in this state to determine the error rate of the system in counting ballots that are validly cast by voters. The risk-limiting audit under the bill does not replace the performance audit under current law. Under the bill, if a general election contest is selected for a risk-limiting audit, the commission conducts a performance audit and the county clerks conducts a risk-limiting audit.

Removing excess ballots from the vote count Under current law, for purposes of reconciling the votes cast after an election, if the number of ballots exceeds the total number of voters recorded on the poll list, the inspectors or board of absentee ballot canvassers, as appropriate, place the ballots in a ballot box and one of the inspectors or a member of the board of absentee ballot canvassers publicly and without examination draws from the ballot box the number of ballots equal to the excess number of ballots. The excess ballots drawn from the box are not counted, but are marked on the original canvass as having been removed due to an excess number of ballots. The removed ballots are set aside and preserved.

Under the bill, beginning with the implementation of risk-limiting audits, if the number of ballots exceeds the total number of voters recorded on the poll list, all of the excess ballots are counted. The inspectors or board of absentee ballot canvassers, as appropriate, document the discrepancy in detail, including the number and type of excess ballots. Any documented discrepancy in the number and type of excess ballots are factored into the risk-limiting audit determinations. If the discrepancy exceeds 0.5 percent of the total ballots cast in the audit unit, the Elections Commission must conduct an investigation into the cause of the discrepancy.