Today, the Secretary of State's office randomly selected 86 polling places to be audited. Out of the 86 places picked, two polling places in Greater Danbury (Frank A Berry School District 5 in Bethel and Pembroke School Ward 2, Distrcit 9 in Danubry) were selected.

The audit will consist of a hand count of the Nov 2 general election results that will be compared with the machine count in order to make sure that the process worked correctly.

From the Sec. of State's office:

“We had one of the closest election results for Governor in Connecticut history on Tuesday November 2nd,” said Secretary Bysiewicz. “Therefore, I have ordered that all polling precincts chosen for the post-election audit examine machine counts for the governor’s race from Election Day, as well as two other offices selected at random. As voters came to the polls in droves they must have continued confidence that their votes were recorded accurately and that’s why the independent audits are so vital.”

The audits can begin no sooner than November 17, 2010 and must be completed by November 22, 2010.

“Auditing election results isn’t just a good idea, it’s absolutely essential in order to guarantee the integrity of our elections,” said Secretary Bysiewicz. “Record numbers of Connecticut residents cast ballots on November 2nd, and we don’t just take the machines’ word for it. So we will have every ballot cast in a full 10% of all our precincts hand counted and matched against the machine totals. Connecticut has the toughest elections audit law in the country and I am confident at the end of this year’s audit the numbers will match.”

[...]

The law requires a hand audit 10% of all polling places in all elections and primaries. (Polling precincts which are already part of a recount are exempt from audits by statute). The provisions in the law, developed in close cooperation with the computer science department at the University of Connecticut, give Connecticut one of the strictest audit statutes in the country. Connecticut is the first state in New England to require a comprehensive audit of election results.

Connecticut General Statute 9-320f states that local Registrars of Voters, “… shall conduct a manual audit of the votes recorded in not less than ten per cent of the voting districts in the state, district or municipality, whichever is applicable. Such manual audit shall be noticed in advance and be open to public observation.” The results of audits will be analyzed by the University of Connecticut and then presented to the Secretary of the State’s Office and the State Elections Enforcement Commission, and ultimately made available to the public.

The law contains a detailed description of the audit process:

“The manual audit… shall consist of the manual tabulation of the paper ballots cast and counted by each voting machine subject to such audit. Once complete, the vote totals established pursuant to the manual tabulation shall be compared to the results reported by the voting machine on the day of the election or primary. The results of the manual tabulation shall be reported on a form prescribed by the Secretary of the State which shall include the total number of ballots counted, the total votes received by each candidate in question, the total votes received by each candidate in question on ballots that were properly completed by each voter and the total votes received by each candidate in question on ballots that were not properly completed by each voter. Such report shall be filed with the Secretary of the State who shall immediately forward such report to The University of Connecticut for analysis. The University of Connecticut shall file a written report with the Secretary of the State regarding such analysis that describes any discrepancies identified. After receipt of such report, the Secretary of the State shall file such report with the State Elections Enforcement Commission.”

A complete list of the polling places picked are below:

List of polling precincts to be audited:

Town Polling Place

Bethel Frank A Berry School District 5
New Britain Generale Ameglio Society District 7
Waterbury St. Peter & Paul School Gym 16 District 74
Granby Granby Memorial High School District 1
Plainville Wheeler School District 4
Killingly South Killingly Fire Station District 3
Montville Town Hall Gym District 6
Hartford Burns School District 9
Stratford Second Hill Lane 120 District 100
Danbury Danbury High School Gym Ward 1 District 1
Southbury Sacred Heart Church District 2
New Haven Firehouse Woodward Ward 17 District 17
Sprague Baltic Fire House District 1
New Milford Catherine E Lillis Building District 2
Southbury The Jewish Center District 4
Middletown Farm Hill School District 11
Greenwich North Mianus School District 12
Colchester Bacon Academy Cafeteria District 1
Mansfield Mansfield Library/Buchanan Auditorium District 3
Seymour Paul Chatfield School District 3
Wilton Driscoll School District 2
Ansonia First Congregational Church Ward 2 District 2 Precinct 2
East Haven East Farm Village 1-S District 1
Southington Derynoski Elementary School District 3
Cheshire Norton School District 4
Newington Anna Reynolds School District 3
New Britain Graham Apartments District 5-2 District 5
East Haven Hays School District 5
Fairfield Dwight School District 3
Stratford Bunnell High School 120 District 90
Hartford Achievement 1st Hartford Academy District 1
Milford Harborside Middle School District 5 District 529
Thompson Quinebaug Volunteer Fire Department District 3
Waterbury Edward D Bergin Apartments District 72
West Haven City Hall Voting District 4 District 1
Preston Town Hall District 1
Norwalk Kendall School Voting District A3 District 140
Greenwich Town Hall District 2
Madison District 2 North
Hartford South End Senior Wellness Center District 13
Orange Mary L Tracy School District 1
Fairfield Osborn School 133 District 4
Thomaston Town Hall – Lena Morton Gallery District 1
Bloomfield Firehouse Number 3 District 5
Kent Town Hall District 1
Hamden Dunbar Hill School District 7
Stafford West Stafford Fire Department District 3
East Hartford Langford School District 2
New Britain New Britain Senior Center District 5
Meriden Meriden Community Towers Area 1 District 12
Danbury War Memorial Gym Ward 5 District 5 Precinct 10
Enfield JFK Middle School District 1 District 2
Branford Community House Voting District 1, Precinct 0 District 1
Groton West Side Middle School District 2
Middletown Woodrow Wilson Middle School District 3
Stratford Wilcoxson School 120 District 70
New Haven New Horizons School District 6 Precinct 2
Stamford Julia A Stark School District 11
Norwich Stanton School District 8
Simsbury Henry James Memorial School District 1
Windsor Locks Windsor Locks High School District 2
Mansfield Audrey P. Beck Municipal Building District 1
Plainfield 4 Atwood Hose Station District 4
Lyme Lyme fire House District 1
Southington Reuben Thalberg Elementary School District 9
Ashford Knowlton Town Hall District 1
Danbury Pembroke School Gym Ward 2 District 2
Berlin Senior Center District 4
Newington Elizabeth Green School District 4
Torrington Armory District 8
Wallingford Evarts G. Stevens School District 2
Plainville Our Lady of Mercy Parrish Hall District 2
Milford Orange Avenue School District 1-2 District 127
Tolland Hicks – Town Hall District 2


List of Polling Precincts in Bridgeport with extended hours on Election Day November 2, 2010:

· Beardsley School, 500 Huntington Avenue;
· Read Middle School, 130 Ezra Street;
· Central High School, 1 Lincoln Blvd.;
· John Winthrop School, 85 Eckart St.;
· Hallen School, Division St.;
· Thomas Hooker School, Roger Williams Rd.;
· Black Rock School, 545 Brewster St.;
· John F. Kennedy Campus, 700 Palisade Ave.;
· Blackham School, 425 Thorme St.;
· Park City Magnet School, 1526 Chopsey Hill Rd.;
· City Hall, 45 Lyon Terrace; and
· Longfellow School, 139 Ocean Terrace.