OLYMPIA – The Office of the Secretary of State’s elections division conducted its first statewide random ballot audit, also called a risk-limiting audit (RLA), November 19, in advance of county and state certifications.
The statewide audit, chosen at random, examined the lieutenant governor contest. Outcomes of the audit were consistent with results from the voting system record.
Washington counties conduct post-election audits after every election. RLAs are another efficient and effective form of audit utilized nationally to ensure voting systems are accurate. Counties have independently conducted 21 official RLAs and 80 pilot RLAs since 2019. Counties also participated in a pilot statewide RLA in August.
“The results of our first statewide audit prove that our voting systems are accurate and support our secure elections,” said Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs. “The first statewide audit went smoothly thanks to the hard work and dedication of highly trained elections professionals.”
Every RLA conducted in Washington to-date has shown alignment between audited ballots and voting system results. Discrepancies are most commonly caused by human error, such as reviewing the wrong ballot or comparing the wrong response during the audit. These data entry errors are easily identified and do not impact tabulated results.
During an RLA, counties pull individual paper ballots from different batches and compare those choices to the voting system record. When enough ballots are examined without finding any discrepancies, auditors have statistical evidence that the voting system results are accurate.
The risk limit used in an RLA is the maximum chance that the random sample drawn for the audit might not catch an error large enough to change the election outcome. If the risk limit is set at 5%, there is a 95% chance the audit would find and correct an incorrect outcome if it exists.
If an RLA does find a legitimate difference between hand-pulled ballots and voting system records that can’t be explained by human error, more ballots are pulled until either the risk limit is met, or a full hand recount of ballots has been completed.
The Office of the Secretary of State updated Washington Administrative Codes in 2023 to support the increased implementation of RLAs and the first planned statewide RLA. These updates created the rules used in the first state-level RLA and outlined procedural differences between county and statewide RLAs.
Washington state law requires counties to conduct post-election audits to ensure voting systems correctly count paper ballots. In addition to RLAs, counties have the option to conduct a random batch audit by comparing a hand count of selected ballot batches to the voting machine count. Some counties held a county-level RLA in addition to the statewide audit.
Additional information about post-election audits, including reports from the first statewide RLA, can be found on the post-election results webpage.
Washington’s Office of the Secretary of State oversees areas within state government including managing state elections, registering corporations and charities, and governing the use of the state flag and state seal. The office operates the State Archives and the State Library, documents extraordinary stories in Washington’s history through Legacy Washington, and administers the Combined Fund Drive for charitable giving by state employees and the Productivity Board state employee suggestion program. The Secretary of State also oversees the state’s Address Confidentiality Program to help protect survivors of crime.