# Auditing Indian Elections

## TL;DR

This paper discusses the implementation of risk-limiting audits (RLAs) for Indian elections using VVPATs, proposing a more efficient and transparent verification method than full manual recounts to ensure election result integrity.

## Contribution

It introduces the application of RLAs to Indian elections with VVPATs, enhancing election transparency and efficiency over traditional full recounts.

## Key findings

- RLAs require inspecting fewer VVPATs when results are correct.
- RLAs are more transparent and easier for the public to verify.
- Implementing RLAs can increase confidence in election outcomes.

## Abstract

Indian Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be fitted with printers that produce Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) in time for the 2019 general election. VVPATs provide evidence that each vote was recorded as the voter intended, without having to trust the perfection or security of the EVMs. However, confidence in election results requires more: VVPATs must be preserved inviolate and then actually used to check the reported election result in a trustworthy way that the public can verify. A full manual tally from the VVPATs could be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming; moreover, it is difficult for the public to determine whether a full hand count was conducted accurately. We show how Risk-Limiting Audits (RLAs) could provide high confidence in Indian election results. Compared to full hand recounts, RLAs typically require manually inspecting far fewer VVPATs when the outcome is correct, and are much easier for the electorate to observe in adequate detail to determine whether the result is trustworthy.