Post-election Audits Pilot Project

Announcement of election audits in Page County, the City of Charlottesville, Fairfax County, and Chesterfield County. The public is invited to observe these audits.

Announcement of Post-Election Audits

JLARC was tasked under Senate Joint Resolution 328 (2009) to study post-election audits of voting equipment. The resolution specifically directs JLARC staff to examine the data, procedures, results, and conclusions of the pilot audit undertaken pursuant to §24.2-671.1 of the Code of Virginia. As a result, JLARC staff have partnered with the State Board of Elections staff and four local Electoral Boards and General Registrars’ staffs to conduct these pilot post-election audits.

The pilot audits will occur during February and March 2010 in Page, Fairfax, and Chesterfield Counties, as well as the City of Charlottesville. Each audit will consist of re-tabulating votes in a sample of voting precincts. The results of these re-tabulations will then be compared to the certified election result in each selected precinct. These audits are intended to assess the accuracy of the optical scan machines used by the four localities—not question the election outcome. For this reason, the audits are occurring after the timeframe to contest the election result and the races selected have substantial margins of victory between the winner and other candidates.

Each pilot audit may be observed by the interested public. The table below details the location, race selected for audit, precincts selected, and audit date and time in each of the four selected localities.

Locality / Audit Location	Race Selected for Audit	Precincts Selected for Audit	Audit Date / Time
Page County / Circuit Court 116 S. Court St. Luray, VA 22835	Attorney General 11/2009	401 – Newport 501 – Shenandoah	2/03/2010, 9:00 a.m.
City of Charlottesville / General Registrar 120 7th Street, NE, Rm. 122 Charlottesville, VA 22902	Governor, Democratic Primary 6/2009	CAP – Central Absentee	02/18/2010, 9:30 a.m.
Chesterfield County / Circuit Court 9500 Courthouse Rd. Chesterfield, VA 23822	Attorney General 11/2009	307 – Cosby 511 – Black Heath	3/10/2010, 9:00 a.m.
Fairfax County / Circuit Court 4110 Chain Bridge Rd., #219 Fairfax, VA 22030	House of Delegates District 45 11/2009	408 – Mt. Eagle 608 – Kirkside 621 – Grosvenor	3/15/2010, 9:00 a.m.

The project leader for this study, Justin Brown, may be contacted at jbrown@jlarc.virginia.gov or (804) 371-4576 for additional information about the pilot audits.