SPONSOR:

Rep. Baumbach & Rep. Potter

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

149th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 35

RECOMMENDING THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTIONS AUDIT GENERAL ELECTIONS FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPROVING THE VOTING SYSTEM AND VOTING PROCESS FOR FUTURE ELECTIONS.

WHEREAS, it is the desire of the State House of Representative of the 149 th General Assembly to improve the voting system and voting process of general elections in the State of Delaware; and

WHEREAS, the Delaware Department of Elections (“Department”) strives to conduct fair and impartial elections and to collect and report election results; and

WHEREAS, auditing general election results would support the mission of the Department as well as improve the voting system and process overall to demonstrate dependability of Delaware’s voting systems.

NOW, THEREFORE:

BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of the 149th General Assembly of the State of Delaware that we hereby request the Department accomplish the following actions beginning in 2019:

1. Conduct an electronic audit of all ballots cast and a manual audit of ballots cast in 2% of election districts within 120 days of any general election in Delaware.

2. The State Board of Elections shall select the election districts to receive the manual audit.

3. The audits will not have any effect on the certified election results, but shall be used by the Department to improve the voting system and voting process for future elections and to demonstrate the dependability of Delaware’s voting systems.

SYNOPSIS

This Resolution requests the Department of Elections (Department) conduct an electronic audit of all ballots cast and a manual audit of ballots cast in 2% of election districts within 120 days of any general election. The House requests this audit process begin in 2019. The purposes of this resolution is for the Department to collect data to improve the voting system and voting process for future elections and to demonstrate the dependability of Delaware’s voting systems.