Harrisburg, PA – Today, the Department of State began Pennsylvania’s statewide risk-limiting election audit (RLA) of the May 19, 2026, primary election.
“RLAs remain the highest standard of comprehensive election audits because the process provides a statistically sound, scientific method for confirming that the reported outcome of the election is accurate,” Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said. “This is our eighth statewide risk-limiting audit, and we have the utmost confidence in RLAs and the integrity of Pennsylvania elections.”
Ten Department employees took turns rolling 10-sided dice to generate a random 20-digit number, which is used to identify which batches of ballots counties will audit over the next several days.
The livestream of the event continues the Shapiro Administration’s commitment to transparency in election administration in the Commonwealth.
The Republican race for lieutenant governor was the only contested statewide race on the ballot, so it is the one being audited in this RLA.
During the audit, county officials will hand-tally the randomly selected ballot batches, then compare those vote counts to the original voting system counts for the selected race. Known as a “batch comparison” RLA, this audit confirms whether counties accurately tabulated paper ballots such that a full hand count would produce the same reported outcome.
The RLA is carried out in addition to the 2% statutorily required audit that counties must perform after each primary and general election. For that review, county officials must conduct a statistical recount of a random sample of at least 2% of all ballots cast, or 2,000 ballots, whichever is fewer.
Counties must complete the RLA by June 4, and they must certify their election results to the Department by June 8.
For more information about RLAs, visit the vote.pa.gov/audits.