Hand Count Audit Verifies Results
Hand Count Audit Verifies Election Results
Lebanon, TN- Wilson County was chosen to participate in a hand count audit of the August 6th election results. Wilson County, being a county providing paper ballots to voters, does a tabulation audit the day after every August and November elections. Wilson County was chosen by Secretary of State to complete a hand count audit of this election rather than a tabulation audit.
Every voter in Wilson County is provided with a true paper ballot that they mark and cast in a tabulator. Voters look at every contest on the ballot, review their selections and once satisfied that the selections are correct, they print their ballot. Holding the ballot, they verify again that their intended selections are clearly printed. After this third verification voters cast the paper ballot in the tabulator. At the close of polls on Election Day results are printed and the unofficial results are published on the Election Commission website.
Tabulators from one early voting site, one election day vote center and one absentee precinct are randomly chosen by the Election Commissioners on Election night to be included in the audit. On Thursday, August 13th, an Audit Counting Board of five Republican and five Democratic Wilson County voters was impaneled to complete the process.
The Board followed detailed procedures, tallied by hand the top race of the ballot, recorded their results, and compared the hand tallied results with the Election Day printed results. In all cases the hand count matched the results recorded on the Election night results tapes.
“We were honored to be chosen to conduct this audit by the state. This hand count confirming the accuracy of the results we reported after the polls closed on August 6th reinforces the integrity of elections in Wilson County. Our voting system provides voters the opportunity and responsibility to check their selections multiple times as well as to hold the printed ballot in their hands before casting it, “said Tammy Smith, Wilson County administrator of Elections.
The next election scheduled for this year is the State and Federal General Election and the Lebanon, Mt Juliet and Watertown Municipal Elections. Municipal candidates may pick up and return petitions until Noon on August 20th.
Early Voting for the election begins on October 14th and ends on October 29th. There are four convenient Early Voting sites - Wilson County the Election Commission Office at 230 East Gay Street in Lebanon; Mt. Juliet Community Center at 1075 Charlie Daniels Pkwy; Gladeville Community Center at 95 McCreary Road; and Watertown Community Center at 8630 Sparta Pike. All locations are open from Monday through Friday 8:00am until 6:00pm and Saturday 8:00am until 1:00pm.
Voters who miss Early Voting and want to cast their ballot on Election Day can choose from one of the 18 Election Day Vote Centers and vote at site most convenient to them that day.
To learn more about elections, voting and how you can be involved with Wilson County elections contact the Wilson County Election Commission at 615-444-0216 or online at www.WilsonTNVotes.gov.
