Michigan plans comprehensive post-election audit

The Michigan Bureau of Elections will be conducting a comprehensive post-election audit including a statewide risk-limiting audit, a complete zero-margin risk-limiting audit in Antrim County, and procedural audits in more than 200 jurisdictions statewide, including absentee ballot counting boards.

“I am a longstanding proponent of post-election audits to review election procedure and affirm public confidence in our elections,” said Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. “By conducting the most comprehensive set of audits in our state’s history, the Bureau of Elections and Michigan’s more than 1,600 local election clerks are demonstrating the integrity of our election.”

The risk-limiting audit would confirm the accuracy of ballot tabulation machines. It includes hand-counting thousands of randomly selected ballots statewide. The audit is scheduled to be complete by mid-January.

A zero-margin risk-limiting audit is a hand tally of every ballot compared to the machine tabulated results.

The bureau published a preliminary list of precincts and absentee ballot county boards in 200 jurisdictions that will undergo procedural audits by counties or the state.