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Post-Election Audit Standards Working Group

Secretary of State Debra Bowen has established a Post-Election Audit Standards Working Group charged with examining whether the post-election audit standards in California should be strengthened. While many states have no obligation to manually audit election results, California law requires counties to conduct a manual tally of 1% of the precincts following each election. Congress is currently considering legislation to set a national standard that could require higher percentages of election results to be audited in a post-election hand count. The Working Group will assist in Secretary Bowen's continued efforts to ensure the security, accuracy, reliability and accessibility of California voting systems and the elections in which they are used.

During the month of July, the Post-Election Audit Standards Working Group will review a variety of post-election audit models and consider the advantages and disadvantages of various models and procedures. The group will report to Secretary Bowen the options for developing and implementing additional auditing requirements that could enhance the reliability of election results, as well as suggested guidelines and procedures for reconciling manual audit and machine count results.

The Post-Election Audit Standards Working Group held a public forum on Monday, July 2, at the Secretary of State building in Sacramento.

Following are a number of documents related to the Working Group.

Post Election Audit Standards Report - Evaluation of Audit Sampling Models and Options for Strengthening California’s Manual Count
Charter
Press Release - June 28, 2007
Media Advisory - June 29, 2007
Meeting Agenda - July 2, 2007 (PDF)
Post Election Audit Standards Working Group - Audio
Public Comment - Kenny Mostern
Public Comment - Richard Tamm
Press Release - July 27, 2007

Experts in the fields of computer science, financial auditing, statistical analysis, election reform advocacy, and city and county government form the Post-Election Audit Standards Working Group:

  • David Jefferson (Chairperson)
    Computer Scientist, Center for Applied Scientific Computing Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  • Kim Alexander
    President and Founder, California Voter Foundation
  • Elaine Ginnold
    Registrar of Voters, Marin County
  • Amy Lehmkuhl
    Certified Public Accountant, Ueltzen & Company, LLP
  • Kathleen Midstokke
    City Clerk, City of Downey
  • Philip Stark
    Professor of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley
If you have questions or would like to get more information, please send an e-mail to postelectionaudit@sos.ca.gov Copyright ©2007 California Secretary of State. Privacy Statement

 
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