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Municipal General Election Audit
November 19, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 19, 2025
WHO: Northampton County Elections Office
WHAT: Municipal General Election Audit
WHERE: Northampton Government Center
WHEN: November 12, 2025 and November 17, 2025
[Northampton County, PA] – The Northampton County Elections Office successfully conducted two types of post-election audits.
Pennsylvania law requires counties to perform a 2% statistical sample audit. The statistical recount is a random sample of at least 2% of the ballots cast or 2,000 ballots, whichever number is fewer. The recount is conducted using manual, mechanical, or electronic devices of a type different than those used for the specific election.
The Northampton County Elections Office randomly selects four precincts within each four county council districts to meet the 2%. The final precincts that were selected are Bethlehem City 14-6, Palmer Middle 1, Freemansburg, and Moore Township Beersville.
The ballots were run through the DS450 scanner to make sure the results matched the initial count.
The Department of State also selected Northampton County at random to participate in a Risk-Limiting Audit (RLA) for the Justice of the Superior Court race.
The Department of State randomly selects counties to participate in the post-election RLA, and also randomly selects the statewide race for the RLA. Northampton County was randomly selected on Monday, November 17th.
The RLA is a procedure that uses statistical methods to confirm election outcomes and to detect possible interference. RLAs examine a random sample of paper ballots, comparing the votes on paper to the totals reported by the vote-counting machines to ensure that the reported outcome of the contest being audited is correct.
The Department of State selects the random batch of ballots for the RLA. The batch of mail-in ballots and one machine canister were counted by hand tally for one candidate for Justice of the Superior Court retention question.
The 2% audit was conducted during the canvass, which was open to the public and media.
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