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Committee recommends changing audit timing to follow recounts
Summary
The committee voted unanimously to recommend HB 261, which would require post-election audits to occur after any recounts are completed to improve logistics for recount teams and candidates.
The House Election Law Committee unanimously recommended HB 261, a bill that moves the timing of certain post-election audits to occur after the completion of recounts.
Representative Robert Wherry introduced the bill, saying audits are important but the current requirement to conduct audits before recounts creates logistical problems when recount teams, lawyers and observers must wait for long periods. "This bill simply moves the audits to after the recount portion," Wherry said during the hearing.
Deputy Secretary of State Erin Hennessy told the committee the office supports the change. Hennessy said the November recounts in the last cycle included a small number of recounts but that in heavier recount years the pre-recount audit schedule could delay certification and the orderly seating of representatives in December. "If we were to have as many recounts as we had in, say, 2022, we may not have been able to have finished the recounts in time to call you folks to take your seats," she said.
In executive session the committee adopted the motion that HB 261 "ought to pass." The committee recorded an 18-0 recommendation in favor of the bill.
The bill changes the statutory sequencing so that audits meant to check top-of-ticket races take place after recounts, reducing the time that observers and litigants must wait around during recount proceedings and aligning operational practice with recount logistics.
