| Chapter 096 |
| 2024 -- S 2458 Enacted 06/12/2024 |
| A N A C T |
| RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- CONDUCT OF ELECTION AND VOTING EQUIPMENT, AND SUPPLIES |
Introduced By: Senators DiMario, Burke, DiPalma, Lauria, Euer, Valverde, Murray, Miller, Tikoian, and Bissaillon |
| Date Introduced: February 12, 2024 |
| It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
| SECTION 1. Section 17-19-37.4 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-19 entitled "Conduct |
| of Election and Voting Equipment, and Supplies" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
| 17-19-37.4. Post-election audits. |
| (a) The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that auditing of election |
| results is necessary to ensure effective election administration and public confidence in the election |
| results. Further, risk-limiting audits provide a more effective manner of conducting audits than |
| traditional audit methods in that risk-limiting audit methods typically require only limited resources |
| for election contests with wide margins of victory while investing greater resources in close |
| contests. |
| (b) Commencing in 2018, the board, in conjunction with local boards, is authorized to |
| conduct risk-limiting audits after all statewide primary, general, and special elections in accordance |
| with the requirements of this section. Commencing in 2020, the state board, in conjunction with |
| local boards, must conduct risk-limiting audits after the presidential preference primary and general |
| elections in accordance with the requirements in this section. |
| (c) The audit program shall be conducted as follows: |
| (1) The state board shall determine what local, statewide state, and federal contests are |
| subject to a risk-limiting audit; |
| (2) The state board shall provide notice pursuant to chapter 46 of title 42 of the time and |
| place of the random selection of the audit units to be manually tallied and of the times and places |
| of the audits; |
| (3) The state board shall make available to the public a report of the vote-tabulating device |
| results for the contest, including the results for each audit unit in the contest, prior to the random |
| selection of audit units to be manually tallied and prior to the commencement of the audit; |
| (4) The state board, in conjunction with the local boards, shall conduct the audit upon |
| tabulation of the unofficial final results as provided in §§ 17-19-36 and 17-19-37; and |
| (5) The state board, in conjunction with the local boards, shall conduct the audit in public |
| view by manually interpreting the ballots according to rules established by the state board in |
| accordance with chapter 35 of title 42. |
| (d) If a risk-limiting audit of a contest leads to a full manual tally of the ballots cast using |
| the voting system, the vote counts according to that manual tally shall replace the vote counts |
| reported pursuant to §§ 17-19-36 and 17-19-37 for the purpose of determining the official contest |
| results pursuant to §§ 17-22-5.2 and 17-22-6. |
| (e) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings: |
| (1) “Audit unit” means a precinct, a set of ballots, or a single ballot. A precinct, a set of |
| ballots, or a single ballot may be used as an audit unit for purposes of this section only if all of the |
| following conditions are satisfied: |
| (i) The relevant vote-tabulating device is able to produce a report of the votes cast in the |
| precinct, set of ballots, or single ballot; and |
| (ii) Each ballot is assigned to not more than one audit unit. |
| (2) “Contest” means an election for an office or for a measure. |
| (3) “Risk-limiting audit” means a manual tally employing a statistical method that ensures |
| a large, predetermined minimum chance of requiring a full manual tally whenever a full manual |
| tally would show an electoral outcome that differs from the outcome reported by the vote-tabulating |
| system for the audited contest. A risk-limiting audit shall begin with a hand tally of the votes in one |
| or more audit units and shall continue to hand tally votes in additional audit units until there is |
| strong statistical evidence that the electoral outcome is correct. In the event that counting additional |
| audit units does not provide strong statistical evidence that the electoral outcome is correct, the |
| audit shall continue until there has been a full manual tally to determine the correct electoral |
| outcome of the audited contest. |
| (4) “Unofficial final results” means election results tabulated pursuant to §§ 17-19-36 and |
| 17-19-37. |
| (f) The results of any audits conducted under this section shall be published on the website |
| of the state board within forty-eight (48) hours of being accepted by the state board. If the audit |
| involved a manual tally of one or more entire precincts, then the names and numbers of all precincts |
| audited and a comparison of the vote tabulator results with the hand counts for each precinct shall |
| be published with the audit results on the website. |
| (g) Any audit required under this section shall not commence for any election subject to a |
| recount pursuant to §§ 17-19-37.1, 17-19-37.2, and 17-19-37.3 until the conclusion of said recount. |
| (h) The state board shall promulgate rules, regulations, and procedures in accordance with |
| chapter 35 of title 42 necessary to implement this section. |
| SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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| LC004314 |
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