Black Hawk County Government: Post-Election Audit

Press release from the Black Hawk County Government:

November 12, 2021

Black Hawk County on Monday conducted its required post-election audit of a voting precinct following the November 2 city/school district election. The audit resulted in a perfect match – of 10 votes.

The Iowa Secretary of State chooses a precinct at random in each county the day after an election. The audit requires county auditors to supervise a hand count of the top race on the first ballot style in that precinct and compare the results to the voting machine count from election night.

In Black Hawk County, the Secretary of State drew the “absentee” precinct, meaning all 4,804 absentee ballots were in consideration. However, given the nature of the city/school elections, the number of ballots to be evaluated was very small.

The first ballot style for the absentee precinct for Black Hawk County was the voting precinct consisting of Barclay and Lester Townships and the City of Dunkerton. The top race on the first ballot style in that precinct was Dunkerton School District, District 2. Since that race was on both ballot styles 1 and 3, both ballot styles were checked.

There were 11 absentee ballots cast for ballot style 1, and no absentee ballots cast for ballot style 3.

There was only one candidate on the ballot for District 2 of the Dunkerton School District, incumbent Chad Wolfensperger. The hand count showed 10 votes for Wolfensperger and one ballot that was not marked for that race. This matched the absentee total of 10 votes for Wolfensperger that was reported on election night.

“This was an unusual audit for us,” said County Auditor Grant Veeder. “Last year we had to count the presidential race on 812 ballots in our recount. But recounting a small race is just as valid as recounting a large race. The important thing is that no one knows which precinct is going to be counted ahead of time.”

Five members of the Absentee and Special Voter Precinct Board conducted the recount on Monday afternoon under the supervision of Elections Manager Karen Showalter and had to examine all 4,804 absentee ballots to make sure all of the Dunkerton District 2 ballots were found. “We’re just lucky we didn’t draw the absentee precinct last year,” said Veeder. “We would have had to recount all 41,163 absentee ballots.” Does this mean Black Hawk County won’t have to recount the absentee precinct in the next general? “No,” said Veeder, “but I hope it reduces our odds.”

Questions about the post-election audit and other election matters may be directed to the Election Office at 319-833-3007 or election@blackhawkcounty.iowa.gov.

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