BATCH COMPARISON AUDIT OF BALLOTS COMPLETED FOR DEMOCRAT PRIMARY

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VIRGINIA, July 18th, 2023 – A Batch Comparison Audit of the June 20th Democratic primary race for the House of Delegates 26th District was completed on Wednesday, June 28th.   

In a Batch Comparison Audit, precincts are randomly selected to be audited.  The ballots in those precincts are hand counted and compared to the electronic vote counts from the voting machines in that same precinct.

The hand tabulation of ballots took place at the Loudoun County General Registrar’s office and was open to the public. Results from the Batch Comparison Audit matched very closely with the machine results. Bi-partisan election officers made only 5 adjustments based on determining the intent of the vote when the machine could not (e.g., oval not completely filled in, marking an X or placing a check mark rather than filling in the oval).  

In the past, Loudoun County has used a Risk-Limiting Audit procedure known as Ballot Polling. The Ballot Polling method uses a random sample of a few ballots from multiple random precincts to determine if election results are accurate.  

Last fall, the Loudoun County Republican Committee (LCRC) appealed to the Governor and the Virginia Department of Elections to approve the Batch Comparison Audit as a means for Virginia citizens to have a much greater confidence in the results of elections. 

In March, the State Board of Elections approved the Batch Comparison Audit method for use and updated the State’s Risk-Limiting Audit Manual to include guidelines for batch comparisons. 

LCRC Chairman, Scott Pio, said, “The Loudoun County Republican Committee supports the Batch Comparison method because it is easier for the public to understand, increases transparency, and improves voter confidence in election results.”  

The bi-partisan request from the Loudoun County Electoral Board to conduct a Batch Comparison Audit of the Democrat primary was approved by the State Board of Elections on June 27th.   

The Loudoun County Republican Committee is recruiting:
https://loudoungop.com/membership-application

If you appreciate the work the LCRC is doing, please consider donating:
https://secure.winred.com/loudoun-county-republican-committee/donate-web