Harrisburg, PA – Today, the Department of State began Pennsylvania’s statewide risk-limiting election audit (RLA) of the Nov. 4, 2025, municipal election.
“RLAs are the highest standard of comprehensive election audits because the process provides a scientific method for confirming – with a high degree of confidence – that the reported outcome of the audited election is accurate,” said Jonathan Marks, Deputy Secretary for Elections and Commissions. “This is our seventh 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 deliver the random 20-digit “seed number,” which is used to determine 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.
A random-selection drawing on Nov. 7, also livestreamed, resulted in the selection of the retention contest for Superior Court Judge Alice Beck Dubow.
During the audit, county officials will hand-tally the randomly selected ballot batches, then compare those vote counts to the original machine counts for the selected race. Known as a “batch comparison” RLA, this audit can confirm whether counties accurately tabulated paper ballots so 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 Nov. 20, and they must certify all election results to the Department by Nov. 24.
For more information about RLAs, visit vote.pa.gov/audits.