Elections; local electoral boards & general registrars to perform certain risk-limiting audits, etc.

Elections; conduct of election; election results; risk-limiting audits. Requires local electoral boards and general registrars to perform certain risk-limiting audits, defined in the bill, under the supervision of the Department of Elections and in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the State Board of Elections with a risk limit of at least 10 percent. The bill provides that localities are required to participate in such audits at least once every five years. The bill also provides that the Department shall submit a report on the results of such audits to the State Board. The provisions of the bill requiring that such audits be conducted (i) for at least one randomly selected contested race for the General Assembly in the year of a general election for members of the General Assembly and (ii) for any other contested race that is necessary to ensure that each locality participates in a risk-limiting audit of an office within its jurisdiction at least once every five years or that the State Board finds appropriate have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2023. The provision of the bill requiring that such audits be conducted for at least one randomly selected contested race for an office that requires certification by the State Board in the year of general election for any local office has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2024. The bill also requires the Department to convene a work group to consider and propose a process and timeline for implementing risk-limiting audits of statewide contests. This bill is identical to HB 895.