Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas announced the completion of the 2024 Vermont General Election Audit, conducted on December 3 at the Vermont State House in Montpelier. No significant abnormalities or discrepancies were found between audit results and the Official Return of Votes.
“We have a strong elections system that ensures every Vermonter has their ballot counted accurately, and today’s audit is a key part of that,” said Secretary Copeland Hanzas. “By ‘double-checking’ voting districts from around the state today, we confirmed the accuracy and integrity of Vermont’s official election results.”
The 2024 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.
General Election audits are a nationally identified best practice and have been required by Vermont state statute since 2006. Seven towns or cities were selected at random for the 2024 General Election Audit: Bennington-2, Burke, Canaan, Dorset, Pawlet, Vergennes, and Winooski.
After an election, every ballot cast must be securely sealed by the town or city clerks in tamper-proof ballot bags under a strict chain of custody and retained in their vaults for 22 months.
As a result of the audit, the sealed ballot bags for these towns or districts were delivered, opened, and audited using an auditing company and equipment that is distinctly different, and independent of, the tabulators used in Vermont towns.
The audit results were compared to the Official Return of Votes that were submitted by municipal clerks following their certification of the November General Election results.
The audit results were viewed publicly and double-checked for accuracy. No significant abnormalities or discrepancies were found between the audit results and the official returns, verifying the accuracy and integrity of the certified election results. The audit results will be posted on the Secretary of State’s website once the data has been formatted.
“I want to thank the clerks and board of civil authority members of the seven districts we audited today – it’s like getting a pop quiz, and their dedicated work meant that they passed with flying colors,” said Copeland Hanzas. “Likewise, Director of Elections Seán Sheehan and his team deserve a big shout-out for their work today – the audit is labor-intensive, both mentally and physically!”
Source: 12.4.2024. Montpelier, VT – Vermont Secretary of State https://sos.vermont.gov
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