Reply #2: hmm

[OnTheOtherHand]

Be sure to rope in Bill Bored, who has thought a lot about BDF issues.

I would hope that there is a more efficient way to verify the ballot definition files than by hand-counting votes (and actually I'm not sure that would catch all the possible problems anyway), but I won't assume it. A small test deck run in every damn precinct might be best. Treat that as a question, not an opinion!

A 5% audit certainly won't render a local election hack-proof regardless; that opens into bigger questions.

Let's suppose that hand counts are a good way to verify BDFs. Stratifying the sample by ballot style increases the complexity, and potentially decreases the transparency of the sample-draw, but I don't think those are crucial objections. In some circumstances it might reduce the statistical power by skewing the sample toward smaller precincts, but of course if it compels a larger sample to begin with, I don't see how that will be a major concern. A table of precincts by size and style might help us to get a handle on this. (If the styles are essentially randomly distributed, then stratifying by style shouldn't appreciably affect the power.)