Elections should be grounded in evidence, not blind trust

… We need evidence-based elections: processes that create strong public evidence that the reported winners really won and the reported losers really lost, despite any problems that might have occurred. Every step in election administration—from technology choices to voter eligibility checks, physical security, the canvass, and audits—should flow from that requirement.

Currently, only four states (Colorado, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Virginia) have statutory requirements for risk-limiting audits, the most rigorous type of post-election audits. But evidence-based elections are possible in all states with existing voting technology by following a few steps in a publicly transparent, verifiable manner. Here’s what an evidence-based election would look like: CONTINUED

Philip B. Stark (Berkeley), Edward Perez (OSET Institute) & J. Alex Halderman (Michigan), Berkeley Blog


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