Article · 2012

Confirming Elections: Creating Confidence and Integrity through Election Auditing

Using Recounts to Measure the Accuracy of Vote Tabulations: Evidence from New Hampshire Elections 1946-2002

Optical scanning machines demonstrate superior accuracy compared to hand-counted paper ballots.

Stephen D. Ansolabehere and Andrew Reeves

This publication situates Using Recounts to Measure the Accuracy of Vote Tabulations: Evidence from New Hampshire Elections 1946-2002 within work on election administration, election integrity, quantitative methods.

Its central contribution is to show that optical scanning machines demonstrate superior accuracy compared to hand-counted paper ballots.

It matters because the findings connect institutional choices to the way authority, public responsibility, and political behavior are experienced in practice.

  • Optical scanning machines demonstrate superior accuracy compared to hand-counted paper ballots.
  • 87% for hand-counted paper ballots (excluding outliers).
  • This represents roughly a 50% improvement in tabulation accuracy with machine counting.
Design
Article
Featured visual from Using Recounts to Measure the Accuracy of Vote Tabulations: Evidence from New Hampshire Elections 1946-2002
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In Confirming Elections: Creating Confidence and Integrity through Election Auditing.

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Confirming Elections: Creating Confidence and Integrity through Election Auditing