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Boulder County’s election audit and canvass open to the public

Audit to validate election outcomes from the 2022 General Election.
Community Submission
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The Elections Division Ballot Processing Center hosted ballot processing tours on Friday. Erin Gleason

NEWS RELEASE

BOULDER COUNTY ELECTIONS DIVISION

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The public is invited to observe the Boulder County Election Division’s 2022 General Election risk-limiting audit (RLA) beginning on Saturday, Nov. 19, along with other post-election certification activities, as detailed below.

While Colorado counties have conducted post-election audits since 2005, a risk-limiting audit is considered the gold standard test of election results. Colorado has been conducting risk-limiting audits since 2017 and was the first state in the nation to conduct a statewide version.

What: Boulder County Risk-Limiting Audit

When: Starting Saturday, Nov. 19 (see detailed schedule below) 

Where: 1750 33rd Street in Boulder

Please RSVP by Friday evening to [email protected] as space is limited; Check in at the Ballot Processing Center.

The risk-limiting audit is a test that helps ensure the accuracy of election results and provides the public with evidence that election outcomes reflect the votes cast by voters on their ballots. To ensure tabulation was accurate, the process reviews how a ballot’s votes were captured at the time it was processed by comparing a sample of paper ballots with digital tallies. To learn more about risk-limiting audits, see the Secretary of State’s FAQs on the RLA.

The software that facilitates the risk-limiting audit at the state level is open source, meaning anyone can examine the code themselves and other states are welcome to learn from or build upon it.

Detailed schedule plus other activities and Canvass RSVP information:

  • Friday, Nov. 18 (online only) – Secretary of State’s office provides high-level background on RLA and establishes random seed, which provides the basis for determining which random ballots to pull and audit. Online observation at 10 a.m. Friday (about a 15 minute process). See Secretary of State notice for link.
  • Saturday, Nov. 19 – 12:30 - 6 p.m. or until complete – Audit board kick-off, ballot pull, and conduct risk-limiting audit
  • Sunday, Nov. 20 – 11 a.m. (to complete) – This is a contingency day if audit is not completed on Saturday. Monday and Tuesday are also contingency days.
  • Wednesday, Nov. 30 – 9:30 – 10:45 a.m. – Canvass Board meeting (online only) – During the meeting, staff presents data that provides evidence to certify the election. This includes voter registration changes during the election and election results including ballots received versus ballots counted, including mail ballots and in-person ballots. This data is also summarized in the Reconciliation Report. RSVP to [email protected] by Tuesday, Nov. 29 by 5 p.m. to get link to view.

Complete risk-limiting audit details and data will be available on the Secretary of State’s Audit Center after the audit is complete.

The Boulder County Elections Division expects to post complete and official election results and related documentation at the end of the day on Thursday, Dec. 1. Those results and canvass reports can be found on our website, www.BoulderCountyVotes.org.

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