EASTON, Pa. — In a windowless conference room Monday afternoon, democracy quietly went about its business in the Northampton County Courthouse.
Every race from last week's elections had already been called, but election officials still had work to do. Earlier in the day, county workers finished canvassing about 885 provisional ballots, said Ricky Santee, solicitor of the county elections office. By 3:20 p.m., Santee and three election staffers began the in-house audit.
- Northampton County passed a risk-limiting audit of the 2022 general election Monday
- Unlike other recent elections, there has been little to no controversy over the results
- The county will participate in a second election audit as part of a state pilot program later this month
Pennsylvania requires counties to conduct a risk-limiting audit of their voting machines. In Northampton County, that means election staff must review at least 2,000 ballots cast on its ES&S ExpressVote XL machines.
Under the system, the county scans and tabulates the printed version of the voting machines against the electronic tally of votes cast in the same precinct. If the numbers match, the machines pass the audit.
Santee and Chief Registrar Christopher Commini watched as two staffers prepared the ballot printouts from votes cast in Hellertown 2nd Ward, Hanover Township District 3, Pen Argyl 3rd Ward and Wilson 2nd Ward — one precinct from each of the four county council districts. One removed the ballots from sealed, plastic containers while the other loaded the ballots into a DS450, a specialized scanner capable of tabulating up to 72 ballots a minute.
"Are there more audited voting machines?" Santee asked no one in particular.
The ExpressVote XL machines have faced heavy scrutiny since the county first used them in the 2019 general election. Voters encountered widespread errors that first race. An investigation determined ES&S delivered machines with poorly configured touch screens, and the company provided poor training to county officials.
As a result, county employees failed to notice the touch screen problem and approved a flawed electronic ballot that failed to count votes for a judicial candidate. County officials salvaged the election by counting the print version of the ballots made by the machines, but the fiasco drew national headlines.
The ExpressVote XLs have worked without issue since then, but heated politics have put more pressure on county officials. Former President Donald Trump sued that county and others following the 2020 election, and tight races in the 2021 general election and 2022 Republican primary triggered automatic recounts.
Tuesday's election was a welcome reprieve for staffers. While the races for the U.S. Senate and Pa.'s 7th Congressional District were close, both races were called relatively quickly.
Other than a LehighValleyNews.com reporter and the four election officials, no one stuck around for the audit results. When the scanner wrapped up around 4:15 p.m., the chairpersons of the county's Democratic and Republican committees had left. No attorneys with a desperate or aggrieved campaign were on hand.
The machines passed the audit.
In the weeks ahead, Northampton County will conduct a second audit as part of a pilot program with the Pa. Department of State. In the next few days, Lehigh County will conduct two audits of its own. By the end of the month, both counties will certify their results and send them to the state.
"It's nice when everyone concedes."Ricky Santee, solicitor of the county elections office
But on Monday afternoon, the election officials quietly celebrated the mundane moment.
"It's nice when everyone concedes," Santee said.
