Citizens Audit Report:
After 10 years, 18 post-election audits, and 800 local audit counting sessions, serious flaws continue
From the Press Release:
Post-election vote audits of the November 2017 elections continue to fail to meet basic audit standards. They again undermine confidence in the accuracy of our elections, concludes the non-partisan Connecticut Citizen Election Audit.
Among the group’s concerns:
- 41% of reports required to be submitted to the Secretary of the State by registrars were incomplete or were not submitted. The Secretary’s Office failed to follow up on those reports.
- Weaknesses in ballot chain-of-custody and security.
- Continued use of flawed electronic audit procedures that are not publicly verifiable.
On the bright side, developments related to the electronic audit point the way to improvement:
- The Secretary of the State’s Office and UConn Voter Center solicited feedback on improving the electronic audits.
- Write-in counting issues and failure to separate ballots as required were clearly identified by the electronic audit and observed by the Secretary of the State’s Office.
Luther Weeks, Executive Director of the Citizen Audit said, “We are frustrated with so little improvement after 18 statewide audits over 10 years. Citizens deserve better. Yet, if the Secretary of the State’s Office follows up on these problems and pursues publicly verifiable electronic audits, progress can be achieved in the near term.”
<Press Release .pdf> <Full Report pdf> <Detail data/municipal reports>
