Audit Finds No Problems In Bucks County Primary Election

Bucks County was among 14 counties in the state selected for the Pennsylvania Department of State’s risk-limiting audit conducted on the May primary election.

In a statement, the Acting Secretary of State Al Schmidt announced there were “no discrepancies between the original and audited unofficial results.”

The risk-limiting audit checks for discrepancies between the machine count of votes and a hand tally of ballots. The ballots selected for review are chosen randomly.

“This risk-limiting audit (RLA), conducted by counties, decisively confirms the accuracy of the outcome of the May primary,” Schmidt said. “RLAs provide a scientifically designed and statistically sound procedure to confirm whether counties’ voting systems tabulated paper ballots accurately enough that a full hand-count would produce the same reported outcome.”

In addition to Bucks County, Adams, Allegheny, Berks, Chester, Dauphin, Franklin, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Union, Washington, and Westmoreland counties were selected to take part in the risk-limiting audit.

State election officials and counties determined what races that would be audited through a random selection process.

On May 25, the department livestreamed the process of randomly selecting the 25 batches of ballots to be audited.

“I want to thank county election officials for their participation in this RLA at a time when they were also busy conducting the 2 percent statutorily required review that they must perform after each primary and general election,” Schmidt said. “Because of their efforts and hard work, Pennsylvanians can feel confident in the accuracy and integrity of the commonwealth’s electoral system.”

The state began using risk-limiting audits in 2019 as a pilot program, and a statewide pilot was held in 2020.

In 2022, the Pennsylvania Department of State announced they would conduct a risk-limiting audit after each election.

Between mail-in and in-person voting, 26.2 percent of Bucks County voters took part in the May primary election.