This bill revises the procedures governing the audits of election results in New Jersey. It mandates that the Secretary of State appoint an independent audit team each year to oversee post-election audits of voter-verifiable paper records in each county. The bill allows for audits to be conducted using independent third-party electronic machines, in addition to the traditional hand-to-eye counts. It specifies that audits will be conducted for federal and state elections, as well as selected county and municipal elections, with a minimum of two percent of election districts being audited. The bill also establishes a timeline for audits to begin 13 days after a general election and to be completed before the certification of results.

Additionally, the bill removes previous requirements that audit procedures ensure a certain statistical power to confirm that a manual recount would not change the reported electoral outcome. Instead, it requires that post-election audit procedures be published prior to elections, allowing for public comment. The bill emphasizes transparency by mandating that the results of audits be publicly announced and published, including any discrepancies found between the audit counts and the official results. It also stipulates that no county can certify election results before the completion of the audit and the announcement of its findings.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 19:61-9