New Bedford Randomly Selected for Post-Election Audit

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — Two of the City of New Bedford’s precincts were randomly chosen to be part of a statewide audit following the November 5 presidential election.

According to a City release, 72 precincts were chosen at random across the state, including precincts in Dartmouth, Fairhaven and Acushnet.

The two selected precincts – Ward 5, Precinct B (Kennedy Donovan Center South) and Ward 6, Precinct B (Hazelwood Community Center) – will be audited by hand count tomorrow, November 13, at 4 p.m. in the Ashley Room at New Bedford City Hall.

The audit will be open to the public, and the results will be posted on the Secretary of State’s website within 10 days of receiving the results.

According to the release, random post-election audits are required by state law following a presidential election. Three percent of all precincts in Massachusetts must be hand-counted, and according to the Secretary of State’s Office “must be chosen in a random, publicly verifiable, non-computerized drawing supervised by the Secretary.”

By all accounts, New Bedford had a very smooth election day on November 5 after updating its procedures and equipment following issues during the presidential primary back in March that saw one precinct start the day without Republican ballots and other running out of GOP ballots by midday.

That led to an investigation by the New Bedford City Solicitor’s Office, which came back with 14 recommendations to improve the election process in the city.