The Northampton County Elections Office conducted two types of post-election audits on Friday, November 24, 2023.

Pennsylvania law requires counties to perform a 2% statistical sample audit. The statistical recount is a random sample of at least 2% of the ballots cast or 2,000 ballots, whichever number is fewer. The recount is conducted using manual, mechanical, or electronic devices of a type different than those used for the specific election.

The Northampton County Elections Office randomly selects five precincts within each four county council districts to meet the 2%. The final precincts that were selected are Allen Township South, Lower Saucon Township 1, Palmer Eastern, and Lower Mount Bethel Township Upper.

The ballots were run through the DS950 scanner again to make sure the results matched the initial count.

The Department of State also selected Northampton County at random to participate in a Risk-Limiting Audit (RLA) for the Justice of the Superior Court race.

The Department of State randomly selects counties to participate in the post-election RLA, and also randomly selects the statewide race for the RLA. Northampton County was randomly selected on Friday, November 17th.

The RLA is a procedure that uses statistical methods to confirm election outcomes and to detect possible interference. RLAs examine a random sample of paper ballots, comparing the votes on paper to the totals reported by the vote-counting machines to ensure that the reported outcome of the contest being audited is correct.

The Department of State selects the random batch of ballots for the RLA. The batch of mail-in ballots was run through the DS450 and counted by hand tally for the four candidates for Justice of the Superior Court race.

The November 24th audits were open to the public and media.

Information provided to TVL by:
Brittney Waylen
Deputy Director of Administration & Public Information Officer
County of Northampton
669 Washington Street
Easton, PA 18042
https://www.northamptoncounty.org/

 

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