McHenry County Government: McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio Announces Enhanced Election Audits In 2022

Press release from the McHenry County Government:

03/10/2022 8:10 AM

WOODSTOCK, IL - As election season approaches, interest in the elections and the integrity of its results become a topic of considerable conversation. Clerk Tirio believes he has developed a means to improve voters’ confidence in the election results.

 “After every election, all Election Authorities are required by statute to perform an audit of 5% of precinct ballots and the machines that were used during the election. This 5% sample is randomly selected by the State Board of Elections. We will continue to do that audit, but enhance the process in the 2022 elections.”

 Tirio goes on to explain that immediately following the required audit, his office will perform hand counts of particular races. “Before we reseal the ballots from the statutory retabulation, we will randomly select a contest to count by hand.” Staff from the Clerk’s office, along with representation from each of the major political parties, will participate in this hand count. The object of the count will be to confirm that the equipment used to automatically count the ballots, produces the same outcome as the hand count. “Voters have voiced concerns regarding the accuracy of the equipment used to tabulate ballots. We hope that this will serve to quell those concerns.”

 Clerk Tirio believes that McHenry County will be the first county in Illinois to implement such an added safeguard.

 “The 2022 elections will be challenging in several ways, but I believe that this change, as well as the other changes we have made up to this point, put us in a better position than ever before and demonstrate our commitment to continuous improvement.”

This press release was produced by the McHenry County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.