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Certified Election Reports

Elections can be contentious, as candidates or voters may sometimes suspect the integrity of other candidates or suspect that election officials may be biased in favor of competing candidates. To promote the integrity of an election, election officials should use independent third parties to conduct various aspects of the election. OpenSTV certified election reports are available to assist election administrators in increasing the integrity and verifiability of counting ballots for ranked-ballot elections.

OpenSTV certified election reports provide an independent and fully verifiable counting of votes using various methods, including the single transferable vote, instant runoff voting, and ranked-choice voting. OpenSTV does not provide assistance with the collection of votes from voters. For assistance in collecting votes, please see True Ballot, DemoChoice, or Helios.

An OpenSTV certified election report consists of a PDF report explaining how the votes were counted and a file containing the ballots used in the election. An example certified election report using data from the 2007 School Committee election for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts is available here.

Obtaining a Certified Election Report

OpenSTV certified election reports are available in exchange for a $500 donation to OpenSTV. Donations to OpenSTV are currently not tax deductible. If you would like a certified election report for your election, please send an email to jeff.oneill @ openstv.org with the following information:

  • The ballot file for your election using the BLT format.
  • The counting rules to be used for your election. Supported counting rules currently include Scottish STV, Cambridge STV, ERS97 STV, and instant runoff voting (i.e., ranked-choice voting for a single seat).
  • Whether you would like me to break ties randomly or whether you would like to specify how ties are to be broken.

Certified election reports for other ballot file formats and other counting rules may also be available on a case-by-case basis for an additional donation. Please send an email to jeff.oneill @ openstv.org with your request.

Terms and Conditions

  • Donations to OpenSTV are not currently tax deductible.
  • A donation to OpenSTV entitles you to a single certified election report. Please be sure to double check your requests. In the event of a mistake on your part, one free corrected report can be requested. After the one free corrected report, an additional donation is required.
  • Donations to OpenSTV are not refundable. Refunds will only be granted where you make a complete request for a certified report and do not receive a certified report within one week of your request.
  • OpenSTV certified election reports are certified to contain an accurate description of various vote-counting methods as implemented by OpenSTV. OpenSTV certified election reports do not include any warranty regarding whether OpenSTV's implementations of these vote-counting methods are correct.
  • IN NO EVENT WILL JEFF O'NEILL OR ANY OTHER PERSON AFFILIATED WITH OPENSTV ("OPENSTV") BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE PROVISION OF A CERTIFIED ELECTION REPORT, EVEN IF OPENSTV HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.