Panel OneWhy Audit?

Mary BatcherErnst & Young and

Chair of ASA Working Group on Elections

Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

• Recommendations of Technical Guidelines Development Committee to EAC (8/07)

• Public Comment (currently)

• Revisions

• More Public Comment

• Adoption by EAC

Software Independence

• Must be able to verify that the vote recorded is correct.

• Software is very powerful which means it is also very complex.

• Current technology is not capable of detecting all errors in software.

• Therefore, voting systems must be software independent so that audits do not have to trust that the software is correct.

Implications

• Cannot rely on testing voting equipment to guarantee accuracy.

• Need to be able to audit and the audit must not depend on an assumption that the machine vote is correct as recorded.

• Need to have independent voter verified records available for vote audits.

• Voter must verify that the electronic record is correct by examining a copy that is maintained separately from the voting system’s software.

What to Expect From an Audit

• Expect errors – everyone finds some discrepancies.

• Most errors are minor and have no impact on the overall accuracy.

• Errors can be fixed and system improved.

What to Expect (or, the Auditor is Your Friend)

• Election auditing is new.• As with any system audited for the first time, expect to

find problems.• Goal is to find and fix problems through the initiative of

the people managing the system – not wait until errors blow up or are found externally.

• Just as in financial audits, the results of an audit can be discussed with election officials before they are released publicly.

• Election officials will then have an opportunity to describe the problem solutions they are putting in place (or may have already put in place).

Restoring Voter Confidence

• There has been widespread coverage of flawed elections.

• It is important to note that most errors are exactly that – errors. They are not malicious efforts to alter election outcomes.

• Nevertheless, voter confidence is shaken when problems are revealed.

• We need independent audits that are completely open and transparent so that the voters can see the level of effort people within the system are taking to get the count right and fix any systemic problems that are found.