Post-Election Voting Equipment Audit Introduction
Wis. Stat. § 7.08(6) is the state embodiment of § 301(a)(5) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). Wis. Stat. § 7.08(6), which requires the Wisconsin Elections Commission (“WEC”) to audit each voting system that is used in this state following each General Election:
(6) Enforcement of federal voting system standards. Following each general election audit the performance of each voting system used in this state to determine the error rate of the system in counting ballots that are validly cast by electors. If the error rate exceeds the rate permitted under standards of the federal election commission in effect on October 29, 2002, the commission shall take remedial action and order remedial action to be taken by affected counties and municipalities to ensure compliance with the standards.1 Each county and municipality shall comply with any order received under this subsection.
The Commission approves the sample size, procedures and timeline for conducting the audit. Each selected municipality is required to conduct the audit, and some local election officials receive assistance from their county clerk’s office. The post-election voting equipment audit has been conducted after each General Election since 2006.
For the 2018 post-election voting equipment audit, the Commission approved a significantly larger sample size of ballots subject to audit, increasing the number of selected reporting units to 5% of the state total. The final process saw 186 reporting units ultimately selected that were subject to audit. Commissioners also opted to set the deadline for audit completion to November 28, 2018, prior to the state deadline for certification of election results. This pre-certification deadline allowed time for staff to review submitted audit reports and determine if there were any anomalies contained therein that could impact the Commission’s decision to certify the November 2018 General Election results.
2018 Voting Equipment Audit Summary
Audit results reported by local election officials and reviewed by WEC staff did not identify any issues or anomalies with the tabulation functionality of the voting equipment, nor did they uncover any programming issues with the machines on which results were audited.
Please see the attached report.