Nevada Regulations § 293.255 Postelection certification audits of VVPATs

1. After each election, a county clerk shall conduct a postelection certification audit of VVPATs randomly selected pursuant to subsection 3 or 4, as applicable, to ensure that the paper record produced by a VVPAT accurately records all votes cast by voters on a mechanical recording device.

2. A county clerk must conduct a postelection certification audit of a VVPAT by comparing each vote cast for each candidate and on each measure which was electronically recorded on the mechanical recording device to each vote cast for each candidate and on each measure which was recorded on the attached VVPAT. Such comparison may be conducted manually or by a mechanical device determined by the Secretary of State to be capable of accurately reading the votes cast and printed and otherwise qualified for use in the State pursuant to applicable state and federal law.

3. The county clerk of a county whose population is 100,000 or more must randomly select a number of mechanical recording devices equal to 2 percent of the number of mechanical recording devices with attached VVPATs used in the election, or not less than 20 mechanical recording devices, whichever is greater, for the postelection certification audit. From each such mechanical recording device, the county clerk must select a vote to compare at random. If a discrepancy of four or more votes is discovered during the postelection certification audit, the county clerk must immediately notify the Secretary of State and investigate the cause of the discrepancy. If the discrepancy cannot be resolved, the county clerk must randomly select an additional number of mechanical recording devices equal to 2 percent of the number of mechanical recording devices with attached VVPATs used in the election, or not less than 20 mechanical recording devices, whichever is greater, for the postelection certification audit. From each such mechanical recording device, the county clerk must select a vote to compare at random.

4. The county clerk of a county whose population is less than 100,000 must randomly select a number of mechanical recording devices equal to 3 percent of the number of mechanical recording devices with attached VVPATs used in the election, or not less than four mechanical recording devices, whichever is greater, for the postelection certification audit. From each such mechanical recording device, the county clerk must select a vote to compare at random. If a discrepancy of four or more votes is discovered during the postelection certification audit, the county clerk must immediately notify the Secretary of State and investigate the cause of the discrepancy. If the discrepancy cannot be resolved, the county clerk must randomly select an additional number of mechanical recording devices equal to 3 percent of the number of mechanical recording devices with attached VVPATs used in the election, or not less than four mechanical recording devices, whichever is greater, for the postelection certification audit. From each such additional mechanical recording device, the county clerk must select a vote to compare at random.

5. The county clerk shall transmit the results of the audit to the Secretary of State within 9 days after the date of the election but before the canvass. The results of the audit must include, without limitation, an explanation of any discrepancy discovered by the county clerk during the audit and, if determined, an explanation of what caused the discrepancy to occur.

6. Any member of the public who observes the postelection certification audit shall not interfere with the conduct of the audit.