SAN LUIS OBISPO
San Luis Obispo takes part in pilot program for ballot audits
Posted: Sep 12, 2011 7:10 PM by Bethany Tucker, KSBY News
Updated: Sep 12, 2011 10:51 PM
No hanging chads here.
San Luis Obispo is taking part in a pilot program meant to ensure our election results are accurate.
Last year, the California Secretary of State's office approved a pilot program that involves new imaging software that'll help with ballot audits after elections. The Clerk's office is required to manually tally one-percent of precinct votes for accuracy after an election, and if you recall, San Luis Obispo hosted a special election late last month. That made it the perfect candidate to take part in the pilot program.
Monday, the city used the new auditing software with help from folks at UC Berkeley. The software is designed to look for a voter's marks, among other things. "In some cases, the voter doesn't mark by the rules," said Philip Stark, a UC Berkeley professor. "They sort of put a little 'X' in the the corner, or they fill the 'O' in 'No,' or they put a check mark instead of filling the bubble." Stark says the software is great at interpreting what a voter's intent was, in case they make those mistakes.
The system also saves time. "By using the system, we're able to substantially decrease the workload that's required to get the same level of confidence in the outcome," said Stark.
The San Luis Obispo County Clerk's Office says the ballots audited Monday reflected the same results that the county's system came back with.
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