Election audits, recounts, canvass, and certification compared

What to take away

Election audits, recounts, canvass, and certification each produce a different record on a different calendar.

A canvass is the official tally that county boards build from precinct returns. An audit tests that tally after the fact, through samples or full hand counts.

A recount retabulates ballots under a legal trigger. Certification is the signed attestation of the designated authority: Pennsylvania's secretary of state, or the Michigan Board of State Canvassers, which certified the 2020 presidential result on November 23, 2020.

The Election Assistance Commission's audit and recount clearinghouse keeps separate resources for each. Colorado runs a risk-limiting audit after every federal election under Secretary of State Rule 25. Auditors draw ballots at random with the open-source Arlo tool.

Georgia's 2020 presidential audit was a full hand count of about 5 million ballots. New Hampshire hand-counts 5% of ballots in statewide races under RSA 659:95 through 659:97. Ohio requires a post-election audit in every county under Revised Code 3505.331.

Recount triggers are numeric in some states and discretionary in others. Florida orders a machine recount at a margin of 0.5% or less and a manual recount at 0.25% or less, the rule used in its 2018 Senate and governor races. Pennsylvania's automatic recount threshold is 0.5%.

Wisconsin has no automatic trigger. A candidate requests a recount and pays for it, which is why Jill Stein's 2016 presidential recount cost her campaign about $3.5 million before confirming Donald Trump's 22,748-vote win.

The distinction matters because an audit can sample records to test tabulation, while a recount follows a different legal trigger and scope. The elections and civic processes guide places these stages in the full cycle.

What to record for each process

For a canvass, name the responsible board, meeting date, reconciliation work, and documents produced.

For an audit, record the method, sample, escalation rule, evidence examined, and reported finding.

For a recount, identify the legal trigger, covered contest, ballot set, and counting method. Wisconsin's 2016 recount covered the presidential race only, after the requesting campaign paid the estimated cost. Add observers and completion order.

Certification needs the responsible official or board, the signed record, the date, and any remaining statutory procedure.

Numbers for each stage come from the results page, read as how to read an election results page directs.

These fields prevent a common error: treating every post-election review as proof that an earlier result was defective. A routine audit may be required after every election, while a recount may be automatic at a defined margin or requested by a candidate.

Neither fact alone establishes misconduct or an incorrect outcome. Report what prompted the process and what its official record found.

The vocabulary is not portable between jurisdictions either. One state's canvass may cover work that another state assigns to its certification meeting.

An audit that expands under a defined escalation rule in one place is a fixed-percentage check in another.

The safe pattern is to pair the local term, the first time it appears, with a one-clause description of what it does. Draw that description from the controlling statute or the election office's own materials.

Terminology discipline has parallels in other beats; conflict displacement and protection terms compared does the same work for movement and protection labels.

Campaign-finance filings

Campaign-finance reports are another civic record, not an election-result stage. The FEC's campaign-finance data portal covers candidate and committee profiles, receipts, spending, debts, filings, and bulk data for federal elections.

Check report coverage, committee ID, and amendments. Transaction type, donor identity, and filing status matter too. An amended filing can replace earlier figures.

Court cases

A complaint starts a case and states a party's allegations and requested relief. A temporary order, trial decision, appeal, and final mandate are distinct stages. Describe each document and its effect rather than saying a court "ruled" when it only scheduled a hearing.

Document-status discipline is generalized in government decision documents compared.

Bush v. Gore ended the 2000 Florida recount on a 5-4 Supreme Court vote.

Timing matters as much as the label. A motion can ask a court to pause certification, but until an order grants that request, the statutory calendar keeps running. Record each filing date and order beside the stage it affects, so readers can see whether a case moved before or after a deadline passed.

The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 sets the federal safe harbor six days before electors meet.

Common questions

Is an audit a recount?

No. They have different purposes, triggers, methods, and scopes under applicable law.

Can a recount change the certified result?

It can under the jurisdiction's rules. Report the trigger, scope, authority, and new official record.

Does certification end every lawsuit?

Not necessarily. Legal procedures and deadlines vary, and contests can run past a state's certification date.

Is a campaign filing proof of wrongdoing?

No. It is a disclosure record. Any legal conclusion requires the relevant rule and facts.