1. Risk-Limiting Audits: A Guide for Election Observation Efforts
- Author:
- The Carter Center
- Publication Date:
- 06-2022
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- The Carter Center
- Abstract:
- The risk-limiting audit (RLA) is a statistical technique for limiting the risk of certifying an incorrect election outcome — that is, the risk that the apparent winner did not in fact receive the most votes. A random sample of paper ballots is visually checked by auditors, and the results are compared with the outcome reported by the tabulator/scanner equipment. If there is sufficiently strong statistical evidence based on this sample that the reported outcome was correct, the audit stops and the tabulated result is confirmed. If evidence from the sample is inconclusive, another sample is drawn, potentially progressing all the way to a full hand recount. The RLA thus either confirms the reported outcome or corrects it.
- Topic:
- Elections, Election watch, Election Observation, and Audit
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus