Election commission asks Legislature for audit, forwards separate letter urging review of mail-in system

The state Election Commission voted on Oct. 29 to ask the Legislature to authorize an independent audit of the 2024 election and directed the chair to send a separate commission letter urging lawmakers to consider returning to same-day, in-person voting.

The actions followed a lengthy meeting that included a staff report on verbatim minutes, sustained discussion among commissioners, and several hours of public testimony. Chief Election Officer Scott Nago told the commission the Office of Elections had examined options for producing verbatim minutes and found "two options for verbatim minutes: use the Zoom transcript or transcribe manually," noting that manual transcription typically takes about four hours of work for every hour of meeting time.

The commission approved the request for a legislative audit on a roll-call vote. It then approved a separate commission letter recommending the Legislature consider reverting to in-person, same-day voting; the chair said he would draft that letter in coordination with Commissioner Lindsey…