Reply #67: it's true that it does say 'at least 2%' but since when do people go above

[Land Shark]

and beyond the call of duty? Rarely. Here's the bill's language. I've also marked with asterisks how the bill first says the audits are unannounced, then it announces them, just like it says they are random, then in another section not shown here, by requiring a minimum of 1 precinct per county, it is clearly not random at all. I really am puzzled by the internal contradictions:

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SEC. 5. REQUIREMENT FOR MANDATORY MANUAL AUDITS BY HAND COUNT.

(a) Mandatory Audits in Random Precincts-

(1) IN GENERAL- The Election Assistance Commission shall conduct random, ******unannounced*******, hand counts of the voter-verified records required to be produced and preserved pursuant to section 301(a)(2) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (as amended by section 2) for each general election for Federal office (and, at the option of the State or jurisdiction involved, of elections for State and local office held at the same time as such an election for Federal office) in *****at least 2 percent***** of the precincts (or equivalent locations) in each State.

(2) PROCESS FOR CONDUCTING AUDITS- The Commission shall conduct an audit under this section of the results of an election in accordance with the following procedures:

(A) Not later than 24 hours after a State announces the final vote count in each precinct in the State, the Commission shall determine and then ********announce********* the precincts in the State in which it will conduct the audits.

(B) With respect to votes cast at the precinct or equivalent location on or before the date of the election (other than provisional ballots described in subparagraph (C)), the Commission shall count by hand the voter-verified records required to be produced and preserved under section 301(a)(2)(A) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (as amended by section 2) and compare those records with the count of such votes as announced by the State.
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