“We have the utmost confidence in RLAs, which remain the gold standard of comprehensive election audits,” Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said.
The Department of State began Pennsylvania’s statewide risk-limiting election audit of the Nov. 3 general election on Thursday, November 13, 2026.
Ten Department employees took turns rolling 10-sided dice in Harrisburg to generate a random 20-digit number. This sequence determines which specific batches of paper ballots local election officials will manually review over the coming days.
The race for governor stands as the sole contested statewide contest on the ballot, making it the central focus of this audit.
During the review, county officials hand-tally the randomly selected ballot batches and compare those totals directly against original voting system counts. This batch comparison method confirms whether counties accurately tabulated paper ballots such that a full hand count would produce the same reported outcome.
The process operates independently from the 2% statutorily required audit that all counties must perform after each primary and general election. That separate review mandates a statistical recount of a random sample comprising at least 2% of all ballots cast, or 2,000 ballots, whichever total is lower.
State officials broadcast the dice roll live to maintain public visibility into vote tabulation checks. Schmidt emphasized that these procedures provide a statistically sound, scientific method for confirming that reported outcomes match voter intent.
Officials utilize the generated random number to select specific precincts and storage boxes without bias.
Counties face a strict statutory deadline to finish the manual examinations and verify their tallies.
Local election boards must complete the risk-limiting audit by Nov. 19. Following the completion of these hand tallies, counties must certify their final election results to the Department by Nov. 23.
Detailed explanations regarding the methodology of risk-limiting audits remain available through the Department of State audit portal.
