FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Date: June 1, 2022
Contact: Chad Houck, Chief Deputy Secretary of State
Phone: (208) 334-2852

Boise, Idaho — Boise, Idaho – Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney today released the final day’s audit preliminary findings, wrapping up the last 3 of 8 counties reviewed by IDSOS audit teams last week. Day Three counties included Kootenai, Bannock, and Madison counties, each of which had a findings margin of error well under the pre-defined tolerance threshold of 0.5% noted variances. The specific details for each were:

Kootenai

• All ballots from Precincts 304, 317, 408, 409, and 513. (approx. 2,148 ballots*)
• 0 errors or variances upon secondary review (Initial review was off by -19, discovered they hadn’t sorted all ballot boxes on first pass so were missing a significant number unsorted)
• Races audited: Republican House Seat 4B (Price/Amador) in Precincts 408 and 409; Republican Secretary of State (McGrane/Moon/Souza) in Precincts 304, 317, and 513.

Bannock

• All ballots from Precincts Pocatello 001, Pocatello 003, Pocatello 011, Pocatello 013, Pocatello 19, Pocatello 21, Pocatello 37, Pocatello 42, Chubbuck 057, and Mink Creek 066. (at least 2,180 ballots*)
• (-1) attributed to a sorting error
• Race audited: Republican Secretary of State (McGrane/Moon/Souza).

Madison

• All ballots from Precincts Plano, Hibbard, Salem, Adams, Pioneer East, Porter Park, City Center, University, Poleline, Trejo, and 6th South. (at least 2,359 ballots*)
• -1 (didn’t have total # of ballots) attributed to sorting error – didn’t sort collocated precinct’s ballots.
• Race audited: Republican House Seat 34B (Raybould/Nate).

Day 3 Total – at least 6,687 ballots* reviewed
2 variances (-2) noted, both attributed to sorting errors = 0.029%

“ALL counties on Friday had to have all absentees and early votes sorted into precincts, as they procedurally central count all those ballots as a single grouping,” explained Chief Deputy SOS Chad Houck. “This process was the single biggest challenge and cause of initial errors, because in these settings, a single machine can and would read all ballots county wide and then publish a report with the individual precinct results. We had to sort over 12,000 ballots into stacks, looking for only approximately 1,600 specific ones.” As a result, all the variances found on Friday were ultimately related to sorting errors.

GRAND TOTAL (over three days) – at least 19,775 ballots* reviewed
6 variations overall w/ all but 1 attributed/explained (6 of 20,000 = .030% error) Overall, all but 1 ballot accounted for (1 in 20,000 = .005% error)

*Ballot count numbers are based on number of gubernatorial votes cast in the Republican primary, and as such, are a minimum known number of ballots available in that precinct for review. Actual ballots reviewed were higher due to overvotes and undervotes.

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ABOUT LAWERENCE DENNEY

Lawerence Denney has served the people of Idaho since 1990. His public service began as a representative in District 13 and, following redistricting, then became a representative in District 9 until 2014. During this time, Denney served two terms as Majority Leader and three terms as Speaker of the House before successfully running for state office as Idaho’s Secretary of State. He is currently in his second term as Secretary of State.