An interesting bit today from UC Berkley about a trial of so-called "Risk Limiting Audits", advocated by Philip Stark. Apparently it went well, well enough that:

"Stark's technique passed the test and five others, impressing California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, the state’s chief elections officer, and spurring her to sponsor a bill, AB 2023, to conduct in 2011 a statewide experiment of this kind of "risk-limiting audit." ( from UCBerkeleyNews)

The article is a breezy summary of the approach and the pilot, with lots of endorsements and quotes, but not too much detail about the actual trial, other than it was successful:

"Although the canvass (we do today) is a comforting thing, and it's certainly necessary, it is not state-of-the-art," said Freddie Oakley, the county clerk recorder of Yolo County and the person responsible for double-checking voting machine counts as well as certifying the final results. "We will be close to state-of-the-art with the bill that the secretary of state is sponsoring." (from UCBerkeleyNews)