election audits
Ballot integrity checks
Election audits are reviews of voting processes and results to verify accuracy and detect irregularities.
Routine audits occur after most elections as standard procedure—checking that machines counted correctly, signatures match, and totals add up.
The term gained charged political meaning after the 2020 U.S. presidential election, when election audits became associated with efforts to challenge results: They demanded a forensic audit of the ballots.
Supporters frame audits as ensuring election integrity; critics often view prolonged or repeated audits as attempts to undermine legitimate outcomes.
- voter verificationConfirming ballot-caster identity
- hand recountPhysical vote verification
- irregularitiesDeviations from expected patterns
- poll workersVoting site employees
- error detectionIdentifying inaccuracies in data
provisional ballots · mail-in ballot · drop box · electoral law · cross-checking · disenfranchisement · absentee voting · recounts · chain of custody · paper trail · polling stations · early voting · polling places · voting machine · votes · tally · voter registration · disputed
- votingballot, vote, voters, ballots, voter
- election disputescontested results, recount, recounts, vote recount, vote recounts
- Voting Rightsvoter registration, voter suppression, voter turnout, voting access, enfranchisement