Democrats, GOP Push Back Against Partisan Election Audits
Partisan election investigations violate the tenets of independent auditing processes. Such processes are designed to protect the security of election equipment, maintain the chain-of-custody rules for ballots and ensure the impartiality of results, said Matthew Germer, an elections fellow at R Street Institute, a conservative-leaning nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. He has concerns about all three states’ reviews.
“You want to make sure your audits are using pre-written rules that you’re not just making up as you go, that you’re hiring auditors that are objective, not seeking an outcome, that the entire auditing process itself has transparency,” said Germer, who coauthored a report on the audits with the voting rights groups the Brennan Center for Justice and Protect Democracy.
“The process so far has been so ad hoc and eyebrow-raising.”