CT's Ballots Now Headed for Certification, Tabulators to Undergo Routine Audit

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Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said after all the counting is finally complete, Connecticut's votes will now go through the process of being certified. The deadline for certification is November 25th.

Merrill says by now most Connecticut towns have completed counting their absentee ballots. They have until Monday to get the job done.

So what does the certification check for?

“There are transposition of numbers sometimes and most of the time 99% of the time it doesn't make any difference because most races are not that close,” Merrill said.

Once the ballots are certified, they go back under lock and key for 22 months in case there are any questions about a particular race.

“They are locked away by law and there is very elaborate laws about where they have to be, who gets to open it up. There always has to be at least two people involved when the closet is open and so forth,” Merrill said.

As with any election, Connecticut's vote tabulators will now also undergo a random audit at five percent of the state's precincts, checking the accuracy of the machines counting your ballots.

“They have to go back and hand compare the ballots to the machine count and make sure it's accurate. It's proven to be 99% accurate any errors we ever found we're always human error not the machines,” Merrill said.

Connecticut's unofficial election results now just weeks away from becoming official.

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