English

Auditing a collection of races simultaneously

Applications 2009-05-12 v1 Methodology

Abstract

A collection of races in a single election can be audited as a group by auditing a random sample of batches of ballots and combining observed discrepancies in the races represented in those batches in a particular way: the maximum across-race relative overstatement of pairwise margins (MARROP). A risk-limiting audit for the entire collection of races can be built on this ballot-based auditing using a variety of probability sampling schemes. The audit controls the familywise error rate (the chance that one or more incorrect outcomes fails to be corrected by a full hand count) at a cost that can be lower than that of controlling the per-comparison error rate with independent audits. The approach is particularly efficient if batches are drawn with probability proportional to a bound on the MARROP (PPEB sampling).

Cite

@article{arxiv.0905.1422,
  title  = {Auditing a collection of races simultaneously},
  author = {Philip B. Stark},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0905.1422},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

9pp

R2 v1 2026-06-21T13:00:04.557Z