Tag: Tasha Carr

By Tasha Carr | Guest Commentary, Larimer League of Independent Voters As an election watcher, I have witnessed many risk-limiting audits (RLAs) in Larimer County. I was immediately struck by how inadequate they seemed because the most important audit step is hidden within the RLA tool and is not observable by the audit board or election watchers. After reading the so-called “gentle introduction” to RLAs, I quickly learned that my skepticism was justified. The problem is not with the RLAs per se, but that Colorado is not doing the RLAs correctly and as a result cannot guarantee that the election outcomes are correct. READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE LARIMER LEAGUE OF INDEPENDENT VOTERS Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do n...

By Tasha Carr | Guest Commentary, Larimer League of Independent Voters Voters have the right to ensure that our votes are counted correctly. The Risk-limiting Audit (RLA) is the only method available for Colorado voters to be assured that wrong election outcomes are detected and fixed. Yet, the RLAs in Colorado have little chance of fixing any incorrect outcomes because the Secretary of State is violating key assumptions of the RLAs and not complying with best practices. Fundamental to RLAs is the statistical concept of a risk limit. In plain English, the risk limit is the risk (chance) of not discovering and fixing wrong election outcomes. To ensure our elections are valid, we want the chance of missing a wrong outcome to be very low. But the risk limit only applie...