Along with all the other options for managing an election, there is now a new link labeled Verify election results. Its use is explained fully at Election Verification and Certification, but not all certifications are created equally, and this should not be confused with a gimmicky, pseudo-certification that amounts to nothing more but a declaration that no compromising activity was detected during the course of a given election. This is bona fide certification made possible by the immutable and cryptographically verifiable, ledger database which serves as the definitive system of record for ballot storage—an ElectionsOnline exclusive.
Performing Verification
Once voting has concluded, election managers may perform a two-step verification process. Step one verifies no ballot was altered after being committed to the system of record, step two verifies that everything in the system of record has one, and only one, exact match in the reporting platform which is used to facilitate high-performance data analysis such as retrieving election results.
Certification of Results
Successful completion of the two verification steps triggers the ElectionsOnline certification mark to appear on the election results page. That mark includes the certification date and it is important to understand that any voting activity that occurs after the certification date is not considered part of the certification. In other words, should an election manager perform verification midway through voting, which is perfectly acceptable, that manager would need to perform it again once all voting has concluded in order to refresh the date associated with the certification mark. There is nothing wrong with a manager performing verification as many times as they wish, but it is important to understand that certification applies only to voting activity prior to the certification date. A history of verification activity by the election manager is displayed in the client’s account.
