Researchers at Princeton University have developed an improved method for
auditing the results of elections. Princeton is currently seeking an
industrial partner to commercialize this
technology.
The new method allows an audit that will detect common types of election
fraud or malfunction with a high degree of probability. The method
combines a machine-conducted audit of some ballots with a manual audit of a
smaller number of ballots, thereby combining the cost advantages of
machine-conducted audits with the accuracy advantages of hand counted
audits. The process uses a novel method to determine the number of ballots
to choose in each audit, thereby reducing the number of ballots that need to be
audited while still achieving the same statistical confidence in the result that
existing methods achieve.
It is anticipated that this technology will be extremely useful in
monitoring election results for accuracy.
Patent
protection is pending.
For
more information please contact:
William H. Gowen
Office of Technology Licensing and Intellectual
Property
Princeton University
4 New South Building
Princeton, NJ 08544-0036
(609) 258-6762
(609) 258-1159 fax
wgowen@princeton.edu