ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. (WSBT) — St. Joseph County is in the middle of a post-election audit after November’s election.
Now, this audit is being done voluntarily with St. Joseph County election officials participating in the first ever post-election audit in the county’s history.
It is a way for the county to show transparency by working with an independent organization.
But organizers said an audit does not mean there’s doubt surrounding these election results.
“So, yes, it is complicated with the thing that it is not, it is not a recount,” said Amy Rolfes, St. Joseph County Circuit Court Clerk.
An audit of this kind hopes to affirm election integrity to see that the results are correct no matter the outcome.
This process involved the independent organization VSTOP which stands for the voting system technical oversight program
VSTOP has been conducting numerous audits statewide, but here in St. Joseph County will be the largest audit they’ve done.
“So, this is the first time St. Joseph County will have a post-election audit done, and this is the largest post-election audit that VSTOP has ever done,” said Rolfes.
This doesn’t cost the St. Joseph County taxpayers a dime.
“They are funded by the Secretary of State’s Office, and they are very interested. One of their highest priorities is election integrity. This is a way to be very transparent about the election results, to have this audit done today,” said Rolfes.
With VSTOP conducting these audits in the state, the statistical success rate has been very high with affirming election results.
“I think they’ve done 33, I think we are number 33. They found no hanky-panky. But it’s just another way for the public understand that an independent agency is coming in and looking at all of our ballots and using their statistical analysis and saying, yes, that is correct,” said Rolfes.
This audit took most of the day, with results expected in the next 2 weeks.
The races included in the audit are the county probate judge and the coroner race, as well as the judge retention for Indiana Supreme Court Judge with Loretta Rush.
ARTICLE PRODUCED BY: Sean English, WBST 22, South Bend, Indiana