On Estimating the Size and Confidence of a Statistical Audit
We consider the problem of statistical sampling for auditing elections, and we develop a remarkably simple and easily-calculated upper bound for the sample size necessary for determining with probability at least c whether a given set of n objects contains b or more “bad” objects. While the size of...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/96591 |
| Summary: | We consider the problem of statistical sampling for auditing elections, and we develop a remarkably simple and easily-calculated upper bound for the sample size necessary for determining with probability at least c whether a given set of n objects contains b or more “bad” objects. While the size of the optimal sample drawn without replacement can be determined with a computer program, our goal is to derive a highly accurate and simple formula that can be used by election officials equipped with only a simple calculator. |
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