In a press release earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Department of State is adding additional security to their voting systems as part of a test, but not what you might expect. The program will use statistical analysis to review election results as a part of a “risk-limiting” audit . While normal election audits take significant time and money, a risk-limiting audit provides how likely a recount would change the outcome. This new type of audit doesn’t asses if the ballot counters counted the ballots correctly, instead they asses the risk the current winning candidate, as determined by the vote counters, won the actual majority of votes. A much faster and cheaper audit. Once the election officials know the risk they can determine if a full audit is needed.
Nick Custodio, spokesmen for the Philadelphia Board of Election, said the results “provide additional assurances to our voters.” The board of elections hope this confidence will help provide more confidence where adversaries hope to create distrust in the election system.
We welcome additional security measures beyond the traditional when properly implemented. We also use statistical algorithms through our IntelligentAV service, which catches malware.