No Significant Abnormalities or Discrepancies Found, Verifying Accuracy of Election Results
Vermont Business Magazine Today Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos announced the completion of the 2020 Vermont General Election Audit, which was conducted on April 28th at the Pavilion Auditorium located in Montpelier. No significant abnormalities or discrepancies were found between the audit results and the Official Returns of Vote.
“Yesterday’s successful audit of the 2020 Vermont General Election has verified the accuracy, dependability and integrity of Vermont’s official November General Election results,” said Condos. “While the audit is an important administrative process required by state law, it also serves to give Vermont voters strengthened confidence in our election results. Every voter deserves to have peace of mind in knowing that when they cast their ballot it will be counted accurately.”
Audits of General Election results are a nationally identified best practice and have been required by Vermont state statute since 2006. Every vote cast must be securely sealed by the Town or City Clerks in tamper proof ballot bags under strict chain of custody and retained in the vaults for 22 months following the election.
Seven towns or cities were selected at random for the 2020 General Election Audit: Brandon, Pownal, Randolph, South Burlington (Chittenden 7-4), Topsham, Warren and Worcester. Six of these towns use optical scan tabulators for the tabulation of election results, and one town (Topsham) uses hand count procedures.
The sealed ballot bags for these towns or districts were delivered, opened and audited using equipment that is distinctly different, and independent of, the tabulators used in Vermont towns. The audit results were compared to the Official Returns of Vote (ORV) that were submitted by the Town Clerks following their certification of the November General Election results.
No significant abnormalities or discrepancies were found between the audit results and ORV, verifying the accuracy and integrity of the certified, official election results. The results of the audit will be posted on the Secretary of State’s website once the data has been formatted.
The 2020 General Election Audit was open to the public and livestreamed by ORCA Media. The recorded livestream can be viewed courtesy of ORCA Media on their YouTube channel.
“As we work to combat the conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation that partisan operatives continue to use to erode public confidence in the integrity of the 2020 election results, audits are one critical way that election officials can respond to these unfounded allegations,” said Condos. “The right to vote is the very foundation of our democracy and the truth matters. All that we can do as election officials is respond with facts and evidence, by transparently demonstrating the integrity and security of our elections process.”
Source: 4.29.2021. Montpelier, VT – https://sos.vermont.gov | www.facebook.com/SecretaryOfStateJimCondos