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Abstract:
Any system for counting votes is subject to error. Is the
aggregate error material--did it change the apparent winner?
Risk-limiting audits guarantee a pre-specified minimum chance that the
audit will lead to a full manual count of the ballots whenever that
manual count would show a different electoral outcome. The theory, law
and practice of post-election audits have progressed considerably over
the last year. Fourteen months ago, there was no viable method for
risk-limiting audits; now there are several. A pilot risk-limiting
audit was conducted in Marin County, California in February 2008, and
more are currently underway in Humboldt, Marin, Santa Cruz and Yolo
counties. I will present up-to-the-minute results from these audits,
and an overview of the methods they use.
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