This bill amends Section 17-19-37.4 of the General Laws to require risk-limiting audits after all primary, general, and special elections starting in 2018, and after the presidential preference primary and general elections starting in 2020. The state board, in conjunction with local boards, will determine which contests are subject to a risk-limiting audit. The audit program will include a random selection of audit units to be manually tallied, and the results of the audit will replace the unofficial final results for the purpose of determining the official contest results. The bill also defines terms related to the audit process and requires the state board to publish the results of the audits on their website within 48 hours.

This bill aims to ensure effective election administration and public confidence in election results by implementing risk-limiting audits. These audits provide a more efficient way of conducting audits, requiring limited resources for contests with wide margins of victory and investing greater resources in close contests. The bill also expands the scope of elections subject to risk-limiting audits to include general assembly elections. The state board, in conjunction with local boards, will conduct the audits and determine which contests are subject to audit. The bill includes provisions for the random selection of audit units, the manual interpretation of ballots, and the replacement of unofficial final results with audit results. The state board is required to publish the audit results on their website within 48 hours.

Statutes affected:
318: 17-19-37.4