<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0IzYDB_1H41IcPo00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0IzYDB_1H41IcPo00" width="1620" height="1080" ></figure>Pa.’s two audits are part of an extended process toward making election results official. <ul><li>Jordan Wilkie/WITF</li></ul>Election officials are still working to certify Pennsylvania’s election results. The next step is a statewide audit considered by election experts to be the gold standard for reviewing voting machine counts.“Risk-limiting” audits are designed to catch any unseen anomalies in vote counts that could improperly cause a race to be called for the wrong candidate. The process starts with creating a random number by rolling a 10-sided die 20 times.Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State, led a livestream on Friday in which several people rolled the die before Schmit called out the number like a lottery announcement.“Once we generate the random number, it will be used to identify the batches of ballots to be audited,” he said during the livestream. “Over the next few days, auditors in the randomly selected counties will review and hand-tally votes that were cast in the context for governor.”All that randomness makes it impossible to predict which ballots will be reviewed, so even if there was an elections supervillain trying to rig voting machines across an entire state — which has never happened — they couldn’t get away with it.The audit would also catch a programming error or any other possible problem that would cause enough votes to initially be credited to the wrong candidate to flip the outcome.“We have multiple safeguards in place in addition to risk-limiting audits to ensure our voting systems provide accurate results,” Schmidt said.This audit is focused on the results for governor, as it was the only contested statewide race.But counties also have a smaller audit that covers every vote on the ballot, on top of their normal checks to make sure all ballots are counted, vote totals match turnout, and all equipment is accounted for.Schmit said these processes work along with pre-election preparations to make sure voting systems are secure and running properly.Several post-election checks like these audits are why it takes Pennsylvania three weeks, by law, to certify election results. They’re also why election night results are called “unofficial.”The media and candidates make calls about election results early on, not actual election officials. In Pennsylvania, there won’t be legal determinations about winners or losers in races until about Nov. 23, at least, pending any last-minute litigation.Categories<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3Jt5o8_1H41IcPo00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3Jt5o8_1H41IcPo00" width="1900" height="1200" ></figure>Member support provides the foundation we rely on to connect our community with trusted journalism. Support WITF’s Fall Membership Campaign today.</div></body>

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Pa.’s two audits are part of an extended process toward making election results official. Election officials are still working to certify Pennsylvania’s election results. The next step is a statewide audit considered by election experts to be the gold standard for reviewing voting machine counts. “Risk-limiting” audits are...

State creates random number for post-election audit

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Pa.’s two audits are part of an extended process toward making election results official. Election officials are still working to certify Pennsylvania’s el

State creates random number for post-election audit

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