Bill Summary: SB1041

• Reduces post-election audit sampling requirement from 10% to 5% of voting districts and adds central counting locations for absentee and election day registration ballots to the audit scope.

• Requires Secretary of the State to conduct public random drawings to select voting districts and offices/questions for audit, with public notification at least three days prior to audit conduct.

• Establishes three audit methods: full manual tabulation, independent retabulation with cast vote records, or manual tabulation of hand-counted ballots, with results filed with University of Connecticut for analysis within 180 days.

• Changes ballot preservation period from 14 days to either 60 days or 30 days before next election (whichever is less), and absentee/election day registration ballots preserved for 30 days after University of Connecticut audit report is filed with State Elections Enforcement Commission.

• Requires moderators to transmit complete district and central count returns to Secretary of State by 3 p.m. the day after election, with Secretary making all information publicly available on internet within 24 hours, broken down by tabulator counts, manual counts, and write-in counts.