Yesterday, four members from the Citizen Audit attended the random drawing of districts and races for the November 2014 post-election audit. The districts were drawn by 2nd graders of Gilead Elementary School in Hebron.
The students did a great job, replacing the usual contingent of adults from the Citizen Audit. And when we observe a local audit, we can claim in all honesty, “Somebody else must have drawn your town!”
There were some other changes and surprises as well:
- Apparently based on urging from the Citizen Audit, Secretary Merrill drew the races for audit in public, providing for public observation of the integrity of the selection. Previously, in every even year election, those races were selected in secret.
- Also we were pleased to learn that Secretary’s Office has taken steps to improve the integrity of the random drawing. Once again, based on requests and reports from the Citizen Audit.
- Finally, both observers and election officials will have to scramble as the audit will need to be performed in just 6 days, compared to the usual 15-21 day period. The Secretary set that date based on a requirement in the law which was not always followed in the past
Here is the Press Release, with more details and the lists of selected towns. <read>
