Election Confidence A Comparison of Methodologies and Their Relative Effectiveness at Achieving It

There are two distinct methodologies for auditing electronic election data. The first of these, which we will call Precinct Count methodology, is the one most commonly used. It involves comparing, for a small number of sample precincts, a “hand recount” of the precinct’s paper ballots with the electronic tally for that same precinct. The second methodology, which we will call Vote Receipt methodology, involves issuing indisputable receipts for either “real ballots”, or “test ballots”, or both, and comparing, for a small number of sample ballots, the receipt values with the electronic ballot data.