Recount Principles and Best Practices

Download our Recount Principles and Best Practices document (pdf)

This document addresses a wide range of recount topics, including initiating mechanisms, funding, transparency, impartiality, counting methods, targeted recounts, and rules for determining voter intent.

CEIMN convened four nationally recognized, bipartisan authors and a blue-ribbon panel of advisors to distill their extensive recount experience into key principles and best practices. The authors of Recount Principles and Best Practices are:

• Mark Ritchie, Minnesota Secretary of State, who chaired the five-person State Canvassing Board that oversaw the 2008 U.S. Senate recount     
• Sam Reed, former Washington Secretary of State, who oversaw the 2004 Washington gubernatorial recount     
• Jane Platten, former director of Cuyahoga County Ohio Board of Elections    
• Mark Halvorson, founder of Citizens for Election Integrity Minnesota and creator of the CEIMN searchable database of state recount laws.

The report was reviewed by a blue-ribbon panel of advisors, including election officials, election integrity advocates, journalists, and academics.  “Accurate and verifiable elections are essential for our democracy,” said Minnesota Secretary of State Ritchie. “This document and its recommendations will improve the way state and local election officials conduct recounts.”

CEIMN, a nonpartisan organization, was founded in 2004 to promote verifiable, transparent, and accurate elections. CEIMN has collaborated on other election reports including Principles and Best Practices of Post-Election Audits, released in 2007.