Chapter 410
2017 -- S 0413 SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 10/05/2017

A N   A C T
RELATING TO ELECTIONS --POST-ELECTION AUDITS

Introduced By: Senators Sheehan, Cote, Raptakis, DiPalma, and Kettle
Date Introduced: March 02, 2017

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
     SECTION 1. Chapter 17-19 of the General Laws entitled "Conduct of Election and
Voting Equipment, and Supplies" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:
     17-19-37.4. Post-election audits.
     (a) The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that auditing of election
results is necessary to ensure effective election administration and public confidence in the
election results. Further, risk-limiting audits provide a more effective manner of conducting
audits than traditional audit methods in that risk-limiting audit methods typically require only
limited resources for election contests with wide margins of victory while investing greater
resources in close contests.
     (b) Commencing in 2018, the board, in conjunction with local boards, is authorized to
conduct risk-limiting audits after all statewide primary, general, and special elections in
accordance with the requirements of this section. Commencing in 2020, the state board, in
conjunction with local boards, must conduct risk-limiting audits after the presidential preference
primary, and general elections in accordance with requirements in this section.
     (c) The audit program shall be conducted as follows:
     (1) The state board shall determine what local, statewide, and federal contests are subject
to a risk-limiting audit;
     (2) The state board shall provide notice pursuant of to chapter 46 of title 42 of the time
and place of the random selection of the audit units to be manually tallied and of the times and
places of the audits;
     (3) The state board shall make available to the public a report of the vote-tabulating
device results for the contest, including the results for each audit unit in the contest, prior to the
random selection of audit units to be manually tallied and prior to the commencement of the
audit;
     (4) The state board, in conjunction with the local boards, shall conduct the audit upon
tabulation of the unofficial final results as provided in §§17-19-36 and 17-19-37; and
     (5) The state board, in conjunction with the local boards, shall conduct the audit in public
view by manually interpreting the ballots according to rules established by the state board in
accordance with chapter 45 35 of title 42.
     (d) If a risk-limiting audit of a contest leads to a full manual tally of the ballots cast using
the voting system, the vote counts according to that manual tally shall replace the vote counts
reported pursuant to §§17-19-36 and 17-19-3 7 for the purpose of determining the official contest
results pursuant to §§17-22-5.2 and 17-22-6.
     (e) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
     (1) "Audit unit" means a precinct, a set of ballots, or a single ballot. A precinct, a set of
ballots, or a single ballot may be used as an audit unit for purposes of this section only if all of the
following conditions are satisfied:
     (i) The relevant vote-tabulating device is able to produce a report of the votes cast in the
precinct, set of ballots, or single ballot.; and
     (ii) Each ballot is assigned to not more than one audit unit.
     (2) "Contest" means an election for an office or for a measure.
     (3) "Risk-limiting audit" means a manual tally employing a statistical method that
ensures a large, predetermined minimum chance of requiring a full manual tally whenever a full
manual tally would show an electoral outcome that differs from the outcome reported by the vote-
tabulating system for the audited contest. A risk-limiting audit shall begin with a hand tally of the
votes in one or more audit units and shall continue to hand tally votes in additional audit units
until there is strong statistical evidence that the electoral outcome is correct. In the event that
counting additional audit units does not provide strong statistical evidence that the electoral
outcome is correct, the audit shall continue until there has been a full manual tally to determine
the correct electoral outcome of the audited contest.
     (4) "Unofficial final results" means election results tabulated pursuant to §§17-19-36 and
17-19-37.
     (f) The results of any audits conducted under this section shall be published on the
website of the state board within forty-eight (48) hours of being accepted by the state board. If the
audit involved a manual tally of one or more entire precincts, then the names and numbers of all
precincts audited and a comparison of the vote tabulator results with the hand counts for each
precinct shall be published with the audit results on the website.
     (g) Any audit required under this section shall not commence for any election subject to a
recount pursuant to §§17-19-37.1, 17-19-37.2, and 17-19-37.3 until the conclusion of said
recount.
     (h) The state board shall promulgate rules, regulations, and procedures in accordance
with chapter 45 35 of title 42 necessary to implement this section.
     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC001550/SUB A
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