STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

 

Step 1: Pre-Audit Prep

VSTOP meets and works with county personnel to:

  • detail the pre, during, and post-audit process
  • generate County Election Board Audit Resolution
  • select contests to audit
  • prepare the ballot manifest with all auditable ballots
  • construct tally sheet

Step 2: Estimate Ballot Sample Size

VSTOP enters the following information in the Stark Audit Tool to generate an estimated sample size:

  • total ballot cast in the elections
  • contest name
  • candidate names and reported vote totals for each candidate
  • the intended risk-limit

Step 3: Public Audit Presentation

VSTOP Team will give a presentation to all members both participating and observing the audit. This is to give additional information and context to those unfamiliar with post-election audits.

Step 4: Generate Audit Seed Number

VSTOP, county personnel, and observers of the audit roll a 10-sided die to generate a 20 digit seed number. This seed number will assist the Audit Tool in generating a live-time random sample of ballots to be inspected.

Step 5: Generate Random Sample of Ballots

VSTOP enters ballot manifest/inventory into the Audit Tool to obtain the sample and location of ballots needed for audit.

Step 6: Organize Sample of Ballots

VSTOP Audit Team and county election personnel label all ballot bags/boxes selected for sample with the number of ballots that need to be sample from each bag/box.

Step 7: Conduct Hand Count of Ballots

In two-person teams (county election personnel under the supervision of VSTOP), the bag/box of ballots are formed into stacks and a ballot is randomly chosen by completing the 6-cut method. Once all ballots from the respective box/bag has been pulled, the ballots head to the VSTOP Audit Team to tally the recorded votes for each audited contest.

Step 8: Tally Hand Counted Ballots

VSTOP Audit Team will record the voter’s selections for each audited contest on the tally sheet.

Repeat Steps 7 & 8 are repeated until all ballots initially selected for sample are inspected. 

STOP:

After all sampled ballots are inspected, VSTOP’s Audit Specialist will enter the hand count information into the Audit Tool and check for the desired level of confidence. If desired level of confidence is achieved the audit moves to Step 9. If the desired confidence level is not reached in the initial sample of ballots, it does NOT mean something went wrong. It just means more ballots will need to be hand counted to generate the desired level of confidence. Steps 7 & 8 are repeated for an additional sample of ballots and results are updated into Audit Tool until the desired level of confidence is achieved.

Step 9: Conclusion of Audit

VSTOP’s Audit Specialist enters tally sheet information into the Audit Tool to check for the desired level of confidence. When the desired level of confidence is achieved, the audit can be considered successfully completed. They will announce preliminary audit findings and the achieved confidence level in the reported election outcomes for each audited contest.

Step 10: Publish Results

VSTOP’s Audit Specialist will formally report all audit activities for each county’s respective post-election audit. The official report will summarize the pre-audit process, explain the execution of the audit, and present audit results. This report is reviewed and signed by the Indiana Election Director and published to the VSTOP and SOS websites.