(Red Oak, Iowa) – Montgomery County Auditor Stephanie  Burke reports County officials conducted a post-election audit today (Monday, November 8, 2021), under a law designed to monitor and protect election processes. Burke said the audit was a perfect match to the results recorded on election night.

Iowa law allows the Secretary of State choose, at random, one precinct in each Iowa county to be audited. County auditors must then supervise a hand count of the ballots from that precinct and compare the results to the voting machine count from election night. In Montgomery County, the Secretary of State chose Precinct 7, which votes at the Villisca Community Building. 139 ballots were cast on election night and the results matched perfectly to the hand count done on Monday, November 8, 2021.

Post election audit being conducted in Montgomery County (photo courtesy Stephanie Burke)

“That’s what we like to see,” Burke said, “the hand count shows that our machines are accurately counting the ballots.” “Since our voting machines, as well as our programming and tabulating computers, aren’t hooked up to the internet, hacking the vote is highly unlikely,” she said. “Being able to rely on paper ballots should give us confidence in the integrity of our voting system.”
Four precinct election officials, representing the two major political parties, conducted the count under the supervision of Auditor, Stephanie Burke. As required in the law, the Auditor’s Office notified the county chairs of both of the two major political parties.

Questions about the post-election audit and other election matters may be directed to the Montgomery County Auditor’s office at 712-623-5127.