Maryland Public Ballot Portal

This portal displays a snapshot of the independent, automated audit conducted in Maryland. Ballots are cast by-mail, in early voting locations and in precincts on election day. The comprehensive audit is conducted before election results are finalized and is an independent audit – meaning there is no hardware or software in common between the two systems.

Ballot images from the voting system are copied and imported into Clear Ballot’s audit software, known as ClearAudit, to verify the accuracy of the election results. ClearAudit conducts an automated tabulation of all voted ballot images.

The voting system and ClearAudit results are compared. If there is a discrepancy between ClearAudit and the voting system of .5% or more in any given contest, the relevant ballot images will be reviewed. To ensure complete transparency, county reports are displayed by contests and candidates.

The following reports are included:

• The Comparison of Cards Cast report compares the number of ballots counted against the number of ballot images tabulated by ClearAudit. This ensures ClearAudit tabulated the same number of ballots as the voting system.
• The Comparison of Ballots Cast with Precinct report compares the number of ballots cast in each precinct against the number of ballots tabulated by ClearAudit.
• The Comparison of Votes Cast report compares the results from the voting system against the results tabulated by ClearAudit and identifies differences between the two systems.
• Viewers can see ClearAudit tabulation results and by clicking the candidate total can view more details about the votes cast.
• Ovals are sorted by density and ranked from most to least confident. The last 100 ovals are the lightest marks and therefore the least confident marks that might need review.
• To view additional information about each vote or mark, hover the cursor over the oval to view the contest and click the oval to view the full ballot image.
• Overvoted ovals, show too many votes made for a certain candidate.

For further questions about this portal or this election audit please visit elections.maryland.gov and under “hot topics” go to Ballot Audit Plan.