Idaho primary election audit finds tiny number of miscues

BOISE (AP) — A review of about 20,000 ballots in a post-election audit of randomly selected precincts in eight randomly selected counties found only six variations from initial results, state officials said Wednesday.

The Idaho secretary of state’s office released a third and final set of results from the three-day audit of the May 17 primary election in which about a third of Idaho voters cast ballots.

The audit found that five of the six variations were due to sorting errors, and that one couldn’t be immediately explained. That results in tiny error percentages of the 20,000 ballots reviewed.

“It reinforces what we've been saying for the last several years — that Idaho's election process is solid,” said Chief Deputy Secretary of State Chad Houck.

The audit follows a new law passed unanimously earlier this year by the House and Senate to increase public confidence in election results by checking paper ballots. The audit is a way to also check the equipment and procedures used to count votes.

Ada, Bannock, Bonneville, Idaho, Jerome, Kootenai, Madison and Payette counties took part in the audit.

State officials said a secondary report involving lessons learned followed potentially by a final report on the audit will be released later this month.