N.Y. Election Law § 9-211: Audit of voter verifiable audit records

§ 9-211. Audit of voter verifiable audit records. 1. Within fifteen

days after each general or special election, within thirteen days after

every primary election, and within seven days after every village

election conducted by the board of elections, the board of elections or

a bipartisan committee appointed by such board shall audit the voter

verifiable audit records from three percent of voting machines or

systems within the jurisdiction of such board. Such audits may be

performed manually or via the use of any automated tool authorized for

such use by the state board of elections which is independent from the

voting system it is being used to audit. Voting machines or systems

shall be selected for audit through a random, manual process. At least

five days prior to the time fixed for such selection process, the board

of elections shall send notice by first class mail to each candidate,

political party and independent body entitled to have had watchers

present at the polls in any election district in such board's

jurisdiction. Such notice shall state the time and place fixed for such

random selection process. The audit shall be conducted in the same

manner, to the extent applicable, as a canvass of paper ballots. Each

candidate, political party or independent body entitled to appoint

watchers to attend at a polling place shall be entitled to appoint such

number of watchers to observe the audit.

2. Within three days of any election, the board of elections or a

bipartisan committee appointed by such board shall audit the central

count ballot scanners by auditing the ballots from three percent of

election districts that were tabulated by such scanners within the

jurisdiction of such board by that time. All provisions of this section

shall otherwise apply to such audit. To the extent additional ballots

are tabulated through central count ballot scanners after the initial

audit, three percent of election districts shall thereafter be audited

as to the additional ballots tabulated. The certification of the canvass

shall not await the completion of such additional audit; provided,

however, if upon the completion of such additional audit the criteria

are met for the results of the audit to replace the canvass then the

board of canvassers shall forthwith reconvene and adjust the canvass as

required.

3. The audit tallies for each voting machine or system shall be

compared to the tallies recorded by such voting machine or system, and a

report shall be made of such comparison which shall be filed in the

office of the state board of elections.

4. The state board of elections shall, in accordance with subdivision

four of section 3-100 of this chapter, promulgate regulations

establishing a uniform statewide standard to be used by boards of

elections to determine when a discrepancy between the audit tallies and

the voting machine or system tallies shall require a further voter

verifiable record audit of additional voting machines or systems or a

complete audit of all machines or systems within the jurisdiction of a

board of elections. Any board of elections shall be empowered to order

that any such audit shall be conducted whenever any such discrepancy

exists.

5. If a complete audit shall be conducted, the results of such audit

shall be used by the canvassing board in making the statement of canvass

and determinations of persons elected and propositions rejected or

approved. The results of a partial voter verifiable record audit shall

not be used in lieu of voting machine or system tallies.

6. Notwithstanding subdivision five of this section, if a voting

machine or system is found to have failed to record votes in a manner

indicating an operational failure, the board of canvassers shall use the

voter verifiable audit records to determine the votes cast on such

machine or system, provided such records were not also impaired by the

operational failure of the voting machine or system.