State begins more than 200 routine audits of Nov. 8 election

The Michigan Bureau of Elections and local election clerks on Thursday started conducting more than 200 public audits of the Nov. 8, 2022, election. 

“The professional, transparent auditing of our election procedures at the state and local level affirms the accuracy and integrity of our elections, identifies best practices, and ensures continuous improvement of our state’s secure, fair elections system,” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a statement Wednesday. “The 2022 election drew record-breaking turnout and unanimous, bipartisan certification from the Board of State Canvassers. We have confidence the auditing process will ensure we are able to build on that success as clerks throughout the state prepare for the next round of elections this year and next.”

Auditing local precincts and doing a hand count of the votes after an election is a routine procedure.

The voting machines were publicly tested for accuracy prior to the election, and after the election hand recounts of more than half a million ballots also confirmed the accuracy of the tabulators, according to the state.

Bureau of Elections staff and county clerks will conduct precinct-level audits to review election administration procedures and identify best practices for future elections. 

Bipartisan state and local election officials will also participate in a statewide audit, in which randomly selected batches of ballots will be hand-counted to affirm the accuracy of the state’s vote tabulation machines. The random number is chosen by rolling a 10-sided die to determine which batches of ballots will be hand counted and audited.

The bureau expects all audits to be completed by Feb. 17 and results will subsequently be shared with the bipartisan Board of State Canvassers in a public meeting.