Lights! Cameras! New documentary shows how Colorado’s audit protects election security

DENVER, March 2, 2018 -- Colorado’s risk-limiting audit pioneered a critical process to show the security of elections. The Colorado Secretary of State's office documented the monumental effort by state and county election officials last fall when it completed the nation's first "risk-limiting audit" to ensure that the counties' ballot tabulation systems accurately counted the votes cast by Colorado's electors.

"With the concerns about election integrity at the forefront of public consciousness, I'm proud to say that Colorado has an answer," Secretary Wayne Williams said. "Our paper ballots and groundbreaking risk-limiting audit provides a rock solid confirmation that Colorado's voting systems are secure. Every Coloradan should have confidence that the election results report the actual votes across the state's 64 counties."

Colorado's work in bringing the audit to reality was observed by federal and state election administrators, election integrity advocates, academics and media throughout the country, including Matt Masterson and Thomas Hicks, two of the three members of the presidentially appointed U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

"Colorado’s risk-limiting audit provided great insights into how to conduct more efficient and effective post-election audits," Masterson said.

The documentary includes praise for the new process from Elizabeth Steele, elections director of Colorado Common Cause, and professors at University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University and Massachusetts Institution of Technology.

Said Steele: "The risk-limiting audit is one example of Colorado’s commitment to election integrity."

“Colorado is setting a new standard” and “is really putting a marker in the ground that election outcomes should be verified and can be verified,” said Columbia’s Mark Lindeman.

Williams showed the documentary at the Colorado County Clerks Association conference in Colorado Springs in January, at the National Association of Secretaries of State, and at the National Association of State Election Directors conferences in Washington, D.C., last month.

The film is now live on YouTube.