State laws that have changed since 2024

This site describes audits as they were run for the 5 November 2024 General Election. Since then, 19 states have changed their audit laws or rules. Ten of the changes are substantial: a new audit, a new method, or a different sample. The rest are narrower. Current sources, including state websites, NCSL and Verified Voting, usually describe the newer laws, so they will not always match what this site shows for 2024.

Each state’s law was checked between August and October 2026. A tag shows whether the change is in force for the 3 November 2026 election.

Substantial changes

Alabama In force for Nov 2026

Act 2026-433 (HB 95), signed 13 April 2026, effective immediately

2024: No tabulation audit law. A 2021 law had covered the 2022 general election only.
Now: Each county canvassing board randomly selects one precinct, and the probate judge audits one statewide and one county race there. Discrepancies are reported to the Secretary of State and the legislature.

North Dakota In force for Nov 2026

SB 2175 (2025), signed 21 March 2025, effective about 1 August 2025

2024: One precinct per county re-ran its pre-election test ballots through the voting system. No voted ballots were counted.
Now: One polling location per county is audited 6 to 8 days after the election, checking one federal, one statewide, one legislative and one county contest. If there is a discrepancy, the Secretary of State may order more audits, which become the official record for the canvass. The Secretary of State must publish the results.

Maine Expected for Nov 2026

21-A M.R.S. § 726, effective 1 January 2025

2024: No audit requirement. A pilot risk-limiting audit of six 2024 legislative races ran in March 2025, about four months after certification.
Now: Post-election audits are to become a routine part of verifying the vote starting in 2026.

From the statute’s own page and news reports; the 2026 procedures have not yet been read for this site.

Maryland In force for Nov 2026

Chapters 320–321, Acts of 2025

2024: Two audits: an independent company re-counted every ballot image statewide, and a hand count checked the U.S. Senate race in about 2% of precincts. Neither was a risk-limiting audit.
Now: A risk-limiting audit is required from 2025, in place of the 2024 audits.

Connecticut Not until 2027

Public Act 26-42 (HB 5001), approved 15 May 2026; audit sections effective 1 January 2027

2024: A hand count of 5% of voting districts.
Now: After every state election, a risk-limiting audit (risk limit of 5% or less) of presidential electors, every state office, at least one randomly drawn U.S. House seat and at least 5% of state legislative seats. If the audit is inconclusive, that office is recounted in full by hand. Ballot manifests are due within 72 hours. The 5% district audit continues for primaries and municipal elections only. November 2026 still runs under the old law; the first state election under the new one is November 2028.

Texas In force for Nov 2026

SB 827 (2025), effective 1 September 2025

2024: A “partial manual count”: a hand count of 1% of precincts or 3 precincts, whichever was more.
Now: Renamed the “hand count election audit”, with separate samples of election-day, early-voting and mail ballots, each at least 1% or 3. First used in November 2025. SB 827 also adds a risk-limiting audit in every county, for elections after 31 August 2026.

Wyoming 2026 only

SF 113 (2026)

2024: Software compared each sampled ballot with the voting system’s record of it. No one hand counted paper ballots.
Now: For 2026 only, a 5% hand count is added on top of the existing audit, which is unchanged. Several national sources describe this 5% hand count as Wyoming’s audit; it was not in place in 2024.

Oklahoma In force for Nov 2026

Laws 2025, c. 262, amending 26 O.S. § 3-130, effective 1 November 2025

2024: The Secretary of the State Election Board could direct counties to audit, at the Secretary’s discretion.
Now: The Secretary must direct every county to audit after each regularly scheduled election.

New Jersey In force for Nov 2026

P.L. 2025, c. 258 (A5037), signed 12 January 2026

2024: A hand count of at least 2% of election districts for each audited office.
Now: Audits may also use independent, third-party electronic machines.

From bill-tracking and advocacy sources; the law’s text has not yet been read for this site.

Nevada In force for Nov 2026

NAC 293.481, amended by R090-25, effective 27 February 2026

2024: The race the Secretary of State selected for the risk-limiting audit had to be a state office. (The 2024 audit also covered the presidential race.)
Now: The selected race can be a federal office (President, U.S. Senate or U.S. House) as well as a state office.

Narrower changes

These leave the 2024 audit largely as it was.

Arkansas (Acts 2025, No. 280, March 2025): a county found less than 100% accurate in one audit is automatically audited in the next. The state board already applied this rule in 2024, by its own decision.
Arizona (HB 2129, 2025): if a party’s appointee to the hand-count board does not appear, party chairs may appoint people from any party. The sample size and races are unchanged. From secondary sources.
Colorado (rule adopted December 2025): adds audit procedures for instant-runoff contests in local jurisdictions that span counties. The statewide risk-limiting audit is unchanged. From secondary sources.
Delaware (85 Del. Laws c. 313, June 2026): the audit section, 15 Del. C. § 5012A, was renumbered § 5014. The text is unchanged.
Georgia (SB 3EX, 2026 special session): a 2024 law (SB 189) makes the printed text, not the QR code, the official ballot for audits. SB 3EX delayed it to 1 January 2028, so the 2026 audit will still use the QR code. Not until 2028
Kentucky (31 KAR 4:230, April 2025): new regulations set out audit procedures and forms. The 2024 audit, the first under a 2024 law, ran on the statute alone.
Ohio (HB 74, April 2025): the audit now follows any election, not only general elections and even-year primaries. How the audit works is unchanged.
South Dakota (SL 2025, ch. 65): changes who posts the public notice of an audit.
Utah (Utah Admin. Code R623-12, October 2025): the audit procedure is now a published rule. In 2024 it was an unpublished state policy, although a 2023 statute required a rule. The sample (1% of ballots in batches, at least one batch per scanner) is the same.

Not a law change: South Carolina’s ballot image audit has a new vendor. Clear Ballot ran it in 2024; the state now names Enhanced Voting.

Reported changes that did not happen

Each of these appeared in a secondary source or search result and was ruled out from the law itself.

Vermont: a 2025 risk-limiting audit law was reported, but Act 70 (2025) does not touch ballot audits, and the audit statute was last amended in 2017.
New York: bills to require risk-limiting audits have been introduced in each session since 2021 (most recently S3223, 2025). None has passed; the 3% audit is unchanged.
Michigan: a 2024 act (PA 74) was reported to have amended the audit law. It did not; the last amendment took effect in February 2024, before the election.
Louisiana: SB 319 (2026) was reported as an audit law. It concerns voter ID. Louisiana’s 2022 audit law still waits on new voting equipment.

No change found

Alaska, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Wisconsin’s sample sizes are set by the Elections Commission for each cycle, not by statute, so they can change without a new law. Pennsylvania’s risk-limiting audit still rests on a Department of State directive rather than statute.

Changes just before the 2024 election

These were in force in November 2024 and are already reflected on this site, but older sources may describe the law as it was before them.

New Hampshire and Kentucky: new audit laws took effect in July 2024; November 2024 was the first general election under each.
Montana (2023 laws, rule effective February 2024): the sample doubled to 10% of precincts, at least two per county and two races per category, and hand-count counties were no longer exempt.
Tennessee (from 2024): the Secretary of State also selects counties for an additional audit and chooses its method.
Mississippi (January 2024): a new procedural audit. It does not compare vote counts with paper ballots.
Minnesota (2024): shorter windows for the post-election review.
Rhode Island (2024): the risk-limiting audit may now cover General Assembly races, not only statewide ones.
California: the option for counties to run a risk-limiting audit instead expired on 1 January 2023, so it did not exist in 2024. Some sources still list it.