Election M

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DEVELOPING AN AUDIT TRAI

Introduction

Ensuring elections are administered fairly, accurately, transparently, and efficiently requires creating 

documentation of each component involved in the 

development and conduct of an election. These components include all pre-election, Election Day, and 

post-election activities; examples include, but are not 

limited to, candidate filing forms, voter registration 

lists, verification of voting systems, poll workers, etc. 

Documentation of these processes may also serve 

to prove the accuracy and validity of an election in 

a court of law and resolve questions regarding the 

integrity of the election.

Furthermore, developing a formal record (audit 

trail) of an election’s components is an essential tool 

for election administrators to accurately evaluate 

the strengths and weaknesses of the processes established to conduct an election. It is therefore important to establish accurate methods and procedures 

for documenting and reviewing an election’s audit 

trail. This chapter focuses on the documentation of 

election supplies, documents, and procedures. Audits 

of election results are discussed in a separate chapter.

In the business of election administration, there 

is no such thing as too much documentation. From 

job descriptions and written procedures, to workflow 

diagrams and charts, to timelines and checklists, 

the documentation that supports the conduct of an 

election can resolve questions regarding separation 

of duties, two person (opposite parties) integrity and 

chain of custody. It can also prove the accuracy of an 

election in a court of law.

By routinely collecting detailed documentation 

of each process, election officials are developing standards for achieving excellence in the management of 

elections. The collection of documentation (audit 

trail) is ongoing within election offices nationwide. 

Exampl  Each voter record has its own unique audit trail

From the moment a citizen registers to vote in a jurisdiction, 

a record or file is created. Think of each voter’s record 

as a legal file folder which contains the history of that 

voter—when they registered to vote; when they changed 

their address and/or their party affiliation; whether they 

voted absentee or early, in-person or by mail and at which 

location; their voter history and if they voted a provisional 

ballot, whether that ballot was counted or not; whether 

they have run for office; whether they were elected to office 

and for what position, whether they have served as a poll 

worker and if so, at which polling place and in what position, 

etc. All of this information and more is contained in each 

voter’s record (audit trail). Therefore, the voter record audit 

trail is an important tool for determining a voter’s eligibility 

to vote, and provides documentation for processing and 

qualifying provisional ballots.

The above example is just one of many processes 

within an election office that requires the development, maintenance and archiving of documentation 

(audit trail). 

Types of Documentati

By reviewing and analyzing all paperwork mailed 

in, delivered at the front counter, generated by staff, 

processed by poll workers, and collected from outside 

sources (e.g. Secretary of State office, county and city 

agencies, vendors, etc.), election officials can start the 

process of determining the retention cycle for election-related documentation.

This documentation, i.e. records/audit trail, represents the records of the business of elections. Whether 

each record or document is of short-term, long-term, 

or archival value, it contains useful and sometimes 

essential information. Think of each document managed 
96  U.S. Elect

in your office as your office’s official documentation—

it can contain legally binding decisions, ranging from 

contracts, purchase agreements, to voted paper ballots. Consideration must also be given to storage 

requirements and methods for retaining documents. 

Space issues are dependent upon whether the documentation is stored electronically or on paper.

These records also reflect the memory of your 

office—how many voters were registered ten years 

ago compared to today; what type of voting system 

was used then and now; what was the cost of managing elections then compared to now? Records in an 

election office document a citizen’s most important 

right—their right to vote. 

Government agencies also have a responsibility 

to comply with open records rules and regulations. 

Documents involved in the election administration 

audit trail may be subject to State and/or local Open 

Records Request or Freedom of Information laws. It 

is through the availability of information that the 

general public can develop an understanding of the 

administration of elections, and perhaps become 

more involved in the democratic process.

Documentation, records (audit trails) can be 

categorized as follows:

 Nonessential/inactive records—documents that are 

routine and would be discarded within a designated 

period of time. Examples would include routine correspondence and memorandums, etc.

 Active records—those that are mandated by Federal 

and /or State law to be retained for a specific period 

of time. Examples would include signed contracts, 

voted ballots, candidate filing forms, etc.

 Archival records—documents that are stored on a 

permanent basis. Examples include voting district 

maps, voter registration records, etc.

Each of the above categories is regulated by local, 

State and Federal records retention laws. Election 

officials are encouraged to verify these retention 

requirements prior to developing your office records 

retention policies and procedures.

Examples of types of documentation managed 

within an election office include, but are not limited to:

 Candidate filing forms

 District and precinct boundary maps

 Voter registration applications

 Absentee ballot applications

 Publications and legal notices

 Equipment inventory and acceptance testing forms

 Ballots

 Logic and accuracy testing documentation

 Equipment and supply checklists

 Poll worker training materials

 Poll worker assignment forms and oath of office

 Employee timesheets and payroll documentation

 Election Day opening and closing certifications

 Post-election reconciliation forms

Pre-Election Audit Tr

The beginning of a new election cycle is a unique 

opportunity to catalog the types of documents 

that are generated from beginning to end. Begin 

by assigning a core group of full time staff the task 

of developing a master checklist containing every 

document that is collected, generated, or created 

during the pre-election/set up of an election. If such 

a checklist already exists, continue to evaluate and 

re-evaluate the items on the checklist and add new 

documents as needed.

An added benefit is that you are empowering a 

team of employees to develop a thorough understanding of all components involved in managing an election. 

The end result is a cross-trained team of employees, who 

are collecting the internal documentation, which also 

becomes the checklist and/or timeline for managing 

elections in your office. When completed, your office 

will have developed a checklist of permanent and archival election records required for each election. As these 

documents/records are approved and authorized, they 

can be stored in consecutive order for storage. Should 

the need arise, your office will be prepared and ready to 

provide all legal documents, should they be requested.

Each election begins with a specific number of 

races and/or questions. The first deadline is the filing 

deadline. This date becomes the first date on your 

timeline and also represents the beginning of docureMEMB

Before you begin—remember—there is no such thing as 

too much documentation!!
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mentation that creates the election. 

Before the election can be set up in your election management and/or voter registration software, 

you must reaffirm and validate that all precincts and 

districts are correct and that addresses are correctly 

assigned to their unique districts/precincts. It is 

important to understand the overall management of 

your voter registration software, i.e. who has authority to update precincts and districts and who manages updating the address file within the software. 

Confirm with your database administrator how user 

rights are assigned and develop a general understanding about which fields in your voter registration software are “locked” and require “administrative rights” 

for managing the data. Ask questions such as:

When are new addresses added to the system? Are 

they added when a new subdivision is platted or 

after the new home building occupancy permit 

has been issued? If addresses are added before the 

building is constructed, there is an opportunity for 

a voter to be added to an address that is actually an 

empty lot.

 Does your address file contain only residential 

addresses? Do you have addresses that are post office 

repositories flagged in your system? Based on your 

State law, confirm that voters are assigned to residential addresses only.

 Are certain precincts in your jurisdiction split 

by local school or special district boundaries? 

Remember that these “split precincts” can cause 

voter confusion on Election Day. Neighbors in the 

same precinct could be voting on different school 

races and/or questions if the precinct is split by 

school boundaries.

If possible, print a listing of precincts and associated districts prior to the set up of each election. A 

team of two staff members should proof this listing, 

using district maps for comparison purposes. If your 

office maintains GIS mapping software, merge the precincts/districts maintained in your voter registration 

software with the GIS mapping software to visually 

verify that all precincts are assigned to the correct 

districts. By utilizing a map point assigned to each residential address, you have the ability to visually verify 

that every residential address within your voter registration software is assigned to the correct precinct. 

In summary:

 Confirm that addresses are assigned to the correct 

precinct and/or split precinct, then

 Confirm that the precincts are assigned to the 

correct districts; and finally

 Confirm that the correct districts are set up 

correctly for each election.

The next components of the pre-election audit 

trail are the candidate filing forms and/or questions 

submitted for the ballot. Based on State law, the candidate filing forms for each race must meet certain 

requirements to qualify for placement on the ballot. 

Therefore, each form becomes a part of the records 

for each election. The candidate filing forms and any 

questions certified for the ballot are the official documents that are used to set up the election. The original filing forms are also the documents that all data 

entry is proofed back to. Make a listing of all documents that are generated from the original candidate 

and question filing forms. This listing may include:

 Election set up/ballot generation software 

candidate report

 Legal candidate publications

 Candidate listing for public distribution

Web site candidate information

Each document, if created by a different staff person 

or different software, must be handled and proofed back 

to the original filing forms. This proofing documentation audit trail for each election should be initialed by 

two staff members. The proofing team must be staff 

members who were not involved in creating the initial 

documents or doing the data entry. 

Once the addresses, precincts, and districts have 

been verified and proofed; the candidate and question 

filing forms have been processed and all associated 

documentation and data entry has been proofed; the 

next step is the development of unique ballot styles.

NOTE Refer to State law for specific ballot requirem

(e.g. rotation of candidate names, partisan and /or straight 

party ballots, etc.)..

After the initial ballot styles have been generated, they should be proofed back to the precinct/

district printout and the original candidate/question 

filing forms. A team of staff members not involved 

in the data entry of the election/ballot generation 

software proofs and signs off on the official ballot 
98  U.S. Elect

file. The proofed ballot deck becomes a part of the 

pre-election audit trail.

Once the ballot proofs are returned from the 

printer, they are once again re-proofed back to the official proofed ballot deck which is already a component 

of the audit trail.

importan  At each point of the proofing and archivin

of the pre-election audit trail, it is imperative that ballot generation and voter registration software be backed up and 

stored off-site. Each of these steps marks a “lock down” 

point in the preparation of an election.

Once ballots are received from the printer, staff 

must verify and confirm that the requested number 

of each ballot style has been received. Again, this 

document becomes a part of the audit trail, and becomes 

the control for managing distribution of the printed 

ballot stock.

Depending upon the type of voting system used, 

the tabulation software must generate memory cartridges for use in optical scan or voting machines. 

Logic and accuracy testing is performed to confirm 

the accuracy of the election setup. All checklists and 

printouts relating to the logic and accuracy testing 

are key components of the pre-election audit trail. 

Examples of the logic and accuracy trail include:

 Opening L&A zero proofs from all voting 

equipment and optical scanners

 Logic and accuracy marked ballot decks and 

associated documentation

 Checklists generated for each piece of voting 

equipment

 Closing L&A total proofs form all equipment 

and scanners

 Final L&A results report 

All of the above documentation should be proofed 

and initialed by at least two staff persons, or others 

as required by State law, and stored as part of the 

pre-election logic and accuracy audit trail. 

Absentee and Early Voting Audit Tra

Based on State law, early voting jurisdictions must 

be prepared to process voters prior to Election Day. 

In some instances, voters are allowed to vote either 

in-person or by mail; and in other jurisdictions, voters 

are only allowed to vote early based on special requirements/circumstances, i.e. disabled and/or out of the 

jurisdiction on Election Day. 

Regardless of the State and local laws and requirements, early voting documentation becomes another 

component of the audit trail for each election. 

Early voting/absentee voting by mail usually begins 

with an application form, completed by the voter. Based 

on State law, these forms must be submitted within 

the designated time frame. Each form should be date 

stamped for processing. Again, based on State law, 

there may be requirements on when the ballot must 

be sent after the application is received in your office. 

There may be other requirements regarding how the 

application for the ballot may be received by your office, 

and who may turn in the application for a ballot. All 

of these unique laws set the stage for internal policies 

and procedures for managing the documentation 

(application forms). These forms, in turn, become a 

part of the official audit trail for each election.

The requests for absentee ballots must be data 

entered and are used to validate the voter’s right to 

receive a ballot. The voter registration software is 

the key control for managing the voter’s eligibility 

to receive and/or request an absentee ballot. Once 

issued, the voter registration software becomes the 

control for managing that voter’s ability to only 

vote once in that election. 

One example that must be monitored as a part 

of the audit trail is a voter’s request for a replacement 

ballot. Questions to ask your database administrator 

include:

 If the voter has already been issued a ballot for that 

election, how does your software control the issuance 

of replacement ballots?

Which ballot can be counted when it is returned? 

What happens if the original ballot is returned and 

the replacement ballot? Which ballot is counted?

 How are user rights restricted for issuance of absentee 

ballots? Is the data field “locked down”? If a user has 

a data entry error, how is the error corrected?

These questions are important because each cycle 

of ballot requests processed will generate a subsequent 

set of printed ballot envelopes and/or labels. Each of 

tip

Consider printing an alphabetical listing of applications 

processed to be a part of your audit trail. 
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these print “jobs” should be balanced back to the 

number of absentee application data entered to verify 

that ballots requested equals ballot envelopes printed. 

If ballot envelopes are stuffed by hand, a team of 

two people should verify that the correct ballot style 

has been inserted in each envelope. The envelopes 

should be processed in groups, representing a print 

“job” that has already been balanced to the number 

of applications data entered. 

After each group of ballot envelopes has been 

sealed, the total number should once again be confirmed and balanced back to the initial number 

proofed from the initial print “job.” 

Applications Processed = Envelopes/Labels Printed = 

Envelopes Stuffed and Sealed = Total Envelopes Delivered 

to the Post Office on Each Day.

The daily log of print jobs, initialed by different 

staff members, represents another key component of 

the absentee and early voting audit trail.

The returned ballot audit trail should be managed 

in the same fashion as the outgoing ballot audit trail. 

Again, the voter registration software contains 

the history of all returned ballot envelopes. Once 

the voter’s record has indicated a ballot has been 

returned, that voter cannot vote again in that election. It is critical to understand user rights to the 

software and to confirm that the voter history data 

fields are in fact “locked down”. Any need to correct 

a user’s mistake in recording voter history must be 

documented and signed off by at least two administrative staff members.

All ballot envelopes returned must be stored 

in a secure, controlled environment with restricted 

access. Log sheets, computer or hand generated, must 

be created and updated on a daily basis. Returned 

ballot envelopes should be bundled in batches and 

recorded on a log sheet. This process assures that all 

batches have been accounted for and processed at the 

end of the election.

The final audit trail for absentee and early voting 

should support and validate that:

 Total number of ballot envelopes returned = the 

total voters with voter history recorded

 Total ballot envelopes returned MINUS ballots challenged = ballot envelopes authorized to be opened

 Total ballot envelopes authorized to be opened = 

total ballots scanned for unofficial results

 PLUS total number of provisional/challenged ballots 

MINUS total number of provisional/challenged ballots 

NOT authorized to be counted

 EQUALS total number of all ballots scanned for official results

Each step of the outgoing and incoming absentee/early voting audit trail should be recorded, balanced and initialed by two staff members. 

Polling Place Supplies and Equipm

Audit Trai

Preparing for voting on Election Day at polling places 

located throughout your jurisdiction requires paperwork to support and verify that the proper supplies 

and equipment has been prepared and distributed to 

the correct polling place location.

Preparation of supplies is done in a variety of 

ways throughout the country. Generic Election Day 

supplies are often pre-packaged for distribution to 

polling places and are often locked, sealed and delivered with equipment prior to Election Day. Other 

offices may distribute all supplies and equipment to 

supervisory poll workers whose job includes verifying the supplies and bringing them to the polling 

place on Election morning. Other offices may deliver 

some supplies and equipment; and distribute other 

unique election supplies to the supervisory poll 

workers on the day prior to Election Day.

Regardless of the distribution method, packaging of supplies is a critical component for success on 

Election Day. Imagine an Election Day where different 

supplies are missing from different supply bags at 

polling places all over your jurisdiction. From managing the phone calls from frustrated poll workers...

to dispatching missing supplies to polling places all 

tip

Train your staff to think of each returned ballot envelope 

as a dollar bill—they must be counted individually, 

sorted, bundled, and balanced at the end of each day.

re

All “dollar bills” returned must be counted, balanced, 

and tabulated. The audit logs become the official 

documentation for each election.
100  U.S. Elect

over the county, a routine election can quickly turn 

into a disaster. 

Each polling place supply kit/bag should be 

packaged according to a supply checklist. Each bag 

and checklist should be numbered. The contents 

of the bag should be itemized and proofed and the 

checklist signed off by two staff members. Mission 

critical supplies, i.e. paper ballots and voter registration lists, should be proofed by key administrative 

staff. Each of these supply bag checklists becomes 

part of the election audit trail. 

NOTE If you receive calls reporting missing supplies, 

can quickly refer to the supply checklists to determine who 

was responsible for packaging that supply bag.

Voting equipment checklists and delivery sheets, 

including the serial number for each machine, protective counter numbers, and any tamper-evident 

seals and/or tamper resistant tape numbers should 

be recorded and confirmed by staff, by delivery staff, 

and again by the poll workers on Election morning.

On Election morning, protective and public 

counter numbers of all equipment should be verified 

by poll workers. The opening zero tape printout 

should be signed by poll workers. All of these documents begin to build the audit trail for each polling 

place on Election Day. 

Field technicians/rovers can serve as additional 

verifiers on Election Day. By completing a polling 

place operational checklist, the rover and supervisory 

poll workers can both sign and confirm that each 

polling place has been set up according to diagram 

layouts and operational procedures.

Throughout the day, poll workers can complete 

verification reports to confirm that the number of 

voters checked in equals the number of ballots issued 

and the number of ballots scanned or recorded on 

public counters on all voting equipment.

When the polls close, closing verification forms 

are completed by poll workers, documenting the 

protective and public counter numbers on all voting 

equipment, and all tamper-evident seals and tape 

securing the equipment. The end of day result tapes 

are printed from each voting machine and signed 

by poll workers. These total votes collected from all 

voting machines should balance to the number of 

total voters processed at each polling place.

Post-Election Aud

Once all ballots have been scanned and all voting 

machine cartridges have been returned and unofficial 

results reported, your office should secure all supplies 

and documentation from each polling place.

NOTE A post election audit can be accomplished in m

different ways, and is often required based on specific 

State law. A separate Election Management chapter has 

been developed to discuss recounts and random auditing 

of election results. This chapter will address auditing of 

supplies, documents, and procedures.

The purpose of conducting a post-election audit 

of supplies and documentation is two fold: 

 First, you want to ensure that all supplies have been 

accounted for and returned from each polling place. 

 Second, you need to audit the work completed by 

the poll workers to verify that all paperwork has 

been completed correctly. 

If possible, consider utilizing other county staff 

members to assist your office in accomplishing the 

post-election audit. Assign the staff to work in teams 

of two, with each team assigned a separate work area 

and table. A checklist of all supplies to be accounted 

for should be prepared for each polling place supply 

bag/kit. (Examples of checklists are included at the 

end of this chapter.) In order to streamline the audit, 

develop the teams to work in an assembly-line fashion. An example of the way to organize the teams is 

as follows:

tip

Bar code technology provides simply inventory control 

for equipment and mission-critical supplies.

tip

Consider providing an incentive program to encourage 

poll workers to return all supplies and properly complete all paperwork.
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 The first team uses a checklist to locate specific supplies, and hands them to the second team. Team one 

continues to process all remaining supplies.

 Team two locates any provisional ballots and hands 

them to team three. Team two continues to utilize 

their checklist and verify that all forms are accounted 

for and completed correctly.

 Team three counts all provisional ballot envelopes 

and balances the number to the signature roster 

for each polling place. The provisional ballot 

envelopes are then forwarded to a review team 

for research.

When all forms and supplies have been 

accounted for, finalize the post-election audit by 

organizing and filing all documents in the same 

order for each polling place. These documents 

should be stored, sealed and archived according 

to State law.
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ALLEN COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS

Election Date Precinct

Summary Sheet Report

 Correct Comments

Ballots Received

Total Ballots Counted 

Provisional Ballots

17 Yr Old Ballots

Unprocessed Ballots

Soiled Ballots

Ballots Issued

Line 1-5 Math

Ballots Used from Pad

Line 6/7 Match

Signatures

Summary Sheet Excellent Good Fair Checked By 

SAMPLE FORM 10.1: POST-ELECTION SUMMARY SHEET REPORT (Allen County, OH)
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ALLEN COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS

Election Date Precinct

Poll Book Report

 Correct Comments

Oath Signed

Certification signed

Signature

Address

Votes Cast

Stub Numbers

Provisional

Yellow Last Page

Highlighter

Absentee

MISC

Summary Book Excellent Good Fair Checked By 

SAMPLE FORM 10.2: POST-ELECTION POLL BOOK REPORT (Allen County, OH)