Update: As Idaho election audit begins, Ada County review shows 0% margin of error
Ada is among the eight counties with precincts that will have results of this month’s primary election audited, part of a new program meant to build trust in Idaho elections.
It’s the first audit since the Legislature passed a law requiring ballot inspections in randomly selected counties after primary and general elections. The Idaho Secretary of State’s Office proposed the bill to identify potential issues, but also to build confidence in elections amid persistent, unfounded voter fraud claims surrounding the 2020 presidential election.
Preliminary audit results showed a 0% margin of error between a hand count of a randomly selected group of ballots and the unofficial election results published in Ada County, the Secretary of State’s Office, which is managing the audit, announced Thursday.
The audit will inform the state board of canvassers — a committee that includes the secretary of state, state controller and state treasurer — whether there were any inconsistencies in the May 17 primary election results, said Chad Houck, deputy secretary of state.
“If there’s anything that was found there, it would be to inform them as to whether or not they choose to certify the totality of the election based on any findings within the random sample, and also to provide reassurances that the procedures used are producing consistent results,” Houck told the Idaho Statesman by phone.
The primary election results in some or all of the precincts in Ada, Bannock, Bonneville, Idaho, Jerome, Kootenai, Madison and Payette counties will be audited. Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney selected the counties and precincts Tuesday via a random draw using a bingo hopper. The number of bingo balls was weighted proportionally to county population, and then precincts within those counties were selected.
How ballots are audited
More than a dozen auditors are traveling the state this week. They’re being flown to counties outside the Boise area.
Denney’s office budgeted $50,000 for the operation, but it likely won’t cost that much, Houck said.
Auditors are comparing paper ballots for a specific race — such as governor or lieutenant governor — against the results reported by the county. The audits are for state and federal offices only, not local elections.
“We’re looking for something that’s scalable, something that’s systemic, something that’s problematic,” Houck said.
The audits won’t affect recounts, which are managed by the Idaho attorney general’s office, Houck said. Multiple recounts for legislative races are being considered.
Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane, who won the GOP nomination for secretary of state last week, said auditors were “methodically” tallying and sorting ballots at the elections office in Boise on Wednesday.
“I’m really glad the state is doing it,” McGrane told the Statesman by phone. “Hopefully ... this really bolsters people’s confidence that our system is working well.”
In addition to Ada County, auditors tallied ballots in Idaho and Payette counties Wednesday. Preliminary results showed a 0.042% margin of error — a minus-one net difference in the vote count — in Idaho County, a result of lightly marked ballots and human error.
In Payette County, auditors found a 0.043% margin of error — also a minus-one net difference in the vote count — due in part to a ballot sorting error.
Of the more than 8,300 ballots reviewed Wednesday, there were 10 variations between the unofficial results in the three counties, and just one was unexplained, according to a news release.
Reports detailing lessons learned and recommendations for best practices will be drafted after the audit’s third day, which is Friday, the release said.
“Sharing the observations, both positive and negative, that our teams are able to make over the course of this process with all 44 counties is one way we can continue to push Idaho’s processes forward and guarantee the continued high integrity of Idaho’s elections,” Denney said in the release.
How counties were selected
For the audit selection process, Idaho’s counties were split into three groups based on voting population.
The first group included counties with more than 100,000 voters: Ada, Canyon and Kootenai. That group has two of the eight audit spots, which went to Ada and Kootenai counties.
The second group included eight counties with voting populations between 20,000 and 99,999. Three selections, Bannock, Bonneville and Madison counties, were made from that group.
And three more selections, Idaho, Jerome and Payette counties, were from the remaining 33 counties, which have fewer than 20,000 registered voters.
Each of the three groups were divided by population, so counties with a higher population had a greater chance of being selected. For example, within the first group, 30 bingo balls went to Ada County, while Canyon County had 11 and Kootenai County had nine.
“That gives us a reasonable sample within each of the population stratas and also gives all of the counties reasonably proportionate odds of being selected based on the percentage of the population that they bear,” Houck said.
The audit should take about three days, and the secretary of state will provide updates throughout the week, Houck said.
This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
