CRANSTON — The Rhode Island Board of Elections officially completed its Risk-Limiting Audit (RLA) of the state’s 2020 General Election results and updated the vote tallies for all races on Tuesday, Nov. 24.

The process, required by Rhode Island law, was conducted by board staff on November 23 and November 24. Results of the audit indicated no election results discrepancies. Rhode Island is one of only 5 states to conduct a statewide risk-limiting audit.

“The completion of this risk-limiting audit should give Rhode Island voters full faith in our state’s election system and the accuracy of our 2020 General Election results,” said Robert Rapoza, Executive Director of the Board of Elections. “I want to thank our dedicated Board staff and our partners at Verified Voting and VotingWorks for completing this post-election audit in a transparent and timely fashion.”

The risk-limiting audit is designed to detect any irregularities large enough to change the reported election outcomes, which may include intentional cyberattacks or something as simple as an unintentional printing or programming error.

In addition, the risk-limiting audits provide another verification point on the accuracy of the voting system after the election. Such verification relies heavily on paper ballots, which Rhode Island has utilized to record every vote cast in the state over the past two decades.

It was the latest in a series of compiling measures the board has completed since 2020 Election Day, November 3. That effort included: Remake Ballots (Results Monday, Nov. 9), Provisional Ballots (Results Tuesday, Nov. 10), Military/Overseas ballots (Results Thursday, Nov. 12) and Deficient Ballots (Results by Monday, Nov. 16).

The board will take up certification on Monday, Nov. 30. The meeting will be streamed via Zoom,  https://elections.ri.gov/calendar/meetings.php, live at 11:30 a.m.

It is then when the elections of officials in East Providence will be deemed complete, including the closest of those contested in city for two spots on the School Committee.

As of the audit, Max Brandle maintained his slim edge over four-term Ward 2 incumbent Tony Ferreira, 2,034-1,985 (50.3%-49.0%). Mr. Ferreira declined to initiate a recount as was his prerogative. In Rhode Island, contests with total votes less than or equal to 20,000, a candidate can request a recount if he or she trails the winning candidate by two percent of votes cast or 200 votes.

November 30 is also the day Jenni Azanero’s relatively tight victory over Frank Fogarty for the open Ward 3 seat will be made official. The contest pitting political novices for the seat vacated by one-term incumbent Karen Oliveira had Ms. Azanero with a 2,519-2,207 (52.8%-46.3%) advantage.

The victories of two other School Committee incumbents in contested races — Joel Monteiro At-Large and Charlie Tsonos — were already ascertained. Ward 4 member Jessica Beauchaine ran unopposed.

So, too, did each of the members of the city’s General Assembly contingent: State Representatives Gregg Amore, Liana Cassar, Briana Henries and Kathryn Kazarian; and State Senators Cynthia Coyne, Valerie Lawson and Cynthia Mendes.