Audit to check election outcomes from the 2020 General Election

Boulder County, Colo. – The public is invited to observe the Boulder County Election Division’s 2020 General Election risk-limiting audit (RLA) live online with activities beginning Monday, November 16 along with other post-election certification activities, as detailed below.

While Boulder County and all Colorado counties have conducted post-election audits since 2005, a risk-limiting audit is considered the “gold standard” test of election results. Colorado has been conducting risk-limiting audits since 2017 and was the first state in the nation to conduct a statewide version.

What: Boulder County Risk-Limiting Audit

When: Schedule of activities below

Where: Online. Link to online video to be provided.

Who: Open to the public. RSVP to Vote@BoulderCountyVotes.org or by calling 303-413-7740 to obtain video conference link.

The risk-limiting audit is a test that helps ensure the accuracy of election results and provides the public with evidence that election outcomes reflect the votes cast by voters on their ballots. To ensure tabulation was accurate, the process reviews how a ballot’s votes were captured at the time it was processed by comparing a sample of paper ballots with digital tallies. To learn more about risk-limiting audits, see the Secretary of State’s FAQs on the RLA.

The software that facilitates the risk-limiting audit at the state level is open source, meaning anyone can examine the code themselves and other states are welcome to learn from or build upon it.

Date/Time/Activity:

Monday, November 16 – Time TBD, but no earlier than 10:30 a.m. for Ballot Box and Ballot Pull; Secretary of State’s office first must establish RLA Random seed, which takes place at 9 a.m. Monday. See their release.

Tuesday, November 17, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 or until done – Audit Board Kick-off, Conduct Risk-Limiting Audit

Tuesday, November 24 at 1:30 p.m. – Canvass Board Meeting (final presentation and signoff of election)

Complete risk-limiting audit details and data will be available on the Secretary of State’s Audit Center after the audit is complete.

The Boulder County Elections Division expects to post complete and official election results and related documentation no later than Wednesday, November 25.