Orderville board unanimously accepts Aug. 12, 2025 primary results after 1% hand audit

The Orderville Town Board unanimously approved the canvass of the Aug. 12, 2025 primary election results at a special meeting, accepting the unofficial tally after a 1 percent hand audit matched the tabulator totals.

Election staff told the board they performed standard logic-and-accuracy testing on voting equipment before the election, held four days of early voting at the town office and ran a post-election audit. "We sent out 437 ballots, and out of your 437, we got 225 back," the election official said, reporting a 57 percent return rate. Early voting drew 10 in-person voters and one provisional; election day produced 13 in-person voters.

The official described signature-cure procedures and late ballots: "We had six of those ballots and we were able to cure four of those. The two that we didn't cure, they just didn't see a ballot," referring to signature mismatches or missing signatures. The official also said a change in law this year requires ballots to be in the clerk's possession by 8 p.m. on election night to be counted. "So those ones were not able to be counted, because we got to have it in our possession by 8PM on election night," the official said, noting a small number of ballots arrived the day after the election and could not be tallied under the new rule. The official also said, "All of the ballots that were returned, we got four we weren't able to count." The record did not specify whether those four late-arriving ballots overlapped with the two ballots that failed the cure process.

Board members said the office conducted the required post-election audit. The official described the audit standard and results: "That's 1 percent, but a minimum of 50 ballots... So we audited 72 ballots. And we... hand counted tally mark for each candidate, and our results matched exactly what our tabulator reports." The official said ballots were batched when possible (batches of 50) and two batches out of six were audited.

After the presentation, a board member moved to accept the primary election results for Aug. 12, 2025; a second was made. The board recorded votes of "Aye" and the motion carried 4 to 0. The board signed the canvass paperwork; one participant noted that the document would not be official without an additional signature from "Rory."

The meeting lasted under 10 minutes and covered a single agenda item: canvassing the primary results, signing the canvass form and adjourning. No further actions or appeals were recorded at the meeting.