Post Election Audits in Iowa
Abstract: During the summer of 2008, several statisticians in Iowa learned of developing post-election audit legislation for the state, a collective effort of state legislators, county auditors and active citizens. Since then, faculty and students at three Iowa universities have worked with audit advocates around the state and election audit experts from around the country to promote risk-limiting audit legislation in Iowa. The input from a number of statisticians with experience and expertise in post-election audits has helped shape our strategy, which is focused on developing a dialogue between statisticians and election officials. Our initial contacts with local officials have underscored the critical importance of communication in promoting risk-limiting audits. Our efforts in 2009 will include additional student involvement and exploring pilot audits for Iowa’s next general election.
