Bill Text: VA SB1254 | 2017 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Voting machines; Department of Elections shall coordinate post-election risk-limiting audit, report.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-03-13 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0367) [SB1254 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2017-SB1254-Engrossed.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §24.2-671.1 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§24.2-671.1. Audits of ballot scanner machines.
A. The State Board Department of Elections shall
be authorized to conduct a post-election [ risk-limiting
] audit annually of one or more [ the ]
[ ballot scanner voting
] machines in one or more precincts in one or more localities with respect
to an election in which the margin between the top two candidates for each
office on the ballot exceeds 10 percent, with the consent of the electoral
board of the locality, notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
contrary in use in the Commonwealth. The localities selected for the
audit shall be chosen at random with every locality participating in the
Department's annual audit at least once during a five-year period. The
purposes of the audits shall be to study the accuracy of ballot scanner
machines.
B. No audit conducted pursuant to this section shall
commence until after the election has been certified and the period to initiate
a recount has expired without the initiation of a recount, unless such audit
is being conducted as part of a voting system certification. An audit shall
have no effect on the election results.
C. All audits conducted pursuant to this section shall
be performed in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the State Board
under the supervision and with the cooperation of the local
electoral board and general registrar. The procedures established by the
State Board shall include its procedures for conducting hand counts of ballots.
Candidates and political parties may have representatives observe the audits.
D. At the conclusion of each audit, the local electoral
board Department shall announce publicly submit report on the
results of the audit of the machines in its jurisdiction to the State
Board. The announcement report shall include a comparison of
the audited election results and the initial tally for each machine audited,
and an analysis of any detected discrepancies.