It’s one month after Election Day and mandatory audits are being conducted at county boards of elections across the state.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose was at the Allen County Board of Elections on Thursday to oversee the audits and talk to board members about how the election went.
“It’s not hyperbole to say that this is the most challenging election that Ohio has ever had to conduct,” says LaRose.
More Ohioans than ever cast their ballots in the 2020 election, despite it being in the midst of a global pandemic. The way we voted changed too, as over half of the voters voted early or with absentee ballots.
With all of the uncertainty surrounding how people expected this election to go, audits are a way to make sure we got the process right.
LaRose says, “It’s kind of a civics education, especially with the national narrative being what it is right now, for Ohioans to have the trust that they should have in an accurate process, and that’s why I really wanted to highlight this post-election audit.”
The auditors were hand-counting ballots from a sample population of voters to ensure accuracy from the election results. LaRose says that every part of the electoral process-- from recruiting poll workers months before the election to auditing the ballots post-election-- is crucial to maintaining the democracy in our government.
“The foundation of our entire government is voters being able to trust the outcome of their election,” says LaRose. “Government officials have no legitimacy unless they get that from the consent of the governed and so we have the consent of the governed provided through a trustworthy election.”
LaRose was also in Montgomery County and Lucas County for further auditing.
