Joel DeSpain: @email
MADISON, Wis. – The largest and most comprehensive post-election audit of voting equipment in Wisconsin history took place following the 2024 General Election. The hand count of the paper ballots audited found no errors that would be attributable to the electronic voting system. Consequently, Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) members, at their March 7 quarterly meeting, unanimously determined the error rate of the 2024 post-election voting equipment audit as 0.0%. Commissioners determined electronic voting equipment, utilized statewide, performed in accordance with certification standards and tabulated votes accurately.
A total of 327,230 ballots, approximately 10 % of all ballots cast statewide, were counted by hand during the 2024 post-election voting equipment audit. Audits are also conducted as a public meeting in each community selected. For context, 145,000 ballots were audited as part of the 2020 post-election audit and 222,075 were audited in 2022.
Local election officials have many responsibilities and, after having just administered a General Election, they were then required to immediately pivot to conduct these audits. “The municipal clerks, county clerks, election inspectors, and volunteers who completed these audits should be commended for their work and for their continued dedication to secure and accurate elections,” said WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe.
Their audit summaries include a comparison between the total votes recorded by the voting equipment and the total votes hand counted on the paper ballots during the audit. WEC staff reviewed every submission and followed up for additional information when necessary. They found no election equipment changed votes from one candidate to another, incorrectly tabulated votes, or altered the outcome of any audited contest. Additionally, there was no evidence of programming errors, unauthorized alterations or hacking of voting equipment software, or malfunctions of voting equipment that altered the outcome of any races on the ballot.
Conducting the voting equipment audit did uncover a small number of human errors that take place during every election. WEC uses information from the audits to educate clerks regarding best practices through additional training and procedural changes.
Details of the audit’s findings can be found in posted Commission meeting materials starting on page 51: https://elections.wi.gov/sites/default/files/documents/OPEN%20Session%2… .