State of Iowa’s first post-election audit confirms vote results from local precinct
The process to conduct the first statewide post-election audits in Iowa history began Wednesday morning following the November 6 General Election. The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office randomly selected precincts in all 99 counties to conduct a post-election audit. County auditors and staff began the process of hand-counting ballots in those precincts to ensure the vote totals are accurate in comparison to those tabulated by the voting machines used in this year’s election. The post-election audits were completed throughout the state of Iowa this past week.
“Post-election audits add another layer of integrity to the election process,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said. “We want every Iowan to know that your vote counts, and it will be counted correctly.”
Thursday, November 8, three citizens from Allamakee County, each registered as members of either the Democratic or Republican political parties, met at the Allamakee County Courthouse in Waukon to conduct a post-election audit of the votes cast at Precinct 2 - Waukon Banquet Center for the November 6 General Election. Allamakee County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Denise Beyer, along with two of her staff members, were also in attendance.
The local audit team hand-counted the votes cast for the office of Governor/Lt. Governor for the 559 ballots cast at the Banquet Center polling site that Election Day. The team’s hand-counted results were then compared to those reported by the ballot tabulator results tape generated from the voting machines at the polls election night.
Beyer reports that the results of the comparison matched exactly, and stated that this is the outcome all voters and election officials should expect. Beyer also shared that this process should strengthen the confidence voters in Allamakee County and the State of Iowa have in the integrity of the election process. She also noted that extensive testing of the ballot tabulators is also conducted by the Auditor’s Office in advance of every election to assure that the tabulators are accurately recording the votes from the paper ballots.
