Voter rolls must accurately reflect the citizens eligible to vote in the location they are living. This includes cleaning the voter rolls for:
Elections must be a transparent process, with fair and equal ability to witness every aspect of voting, tabulation, ballot processing, and the like. State laws should provide that such observers are to be equally authorized or designated by political parties or candidates, able to watch over one another.
Election administrators must follow state laws requiring reconciliation of the number of votes to the number of voters to the number of ballots issued. After the canvass, election officials use various methods to certify results. In many states, a local board is responsible for canvassing and certifying election outcomes. In other states, this duty falls to the Chief Election Official. Additionally, several states have state canvassing boards tasked with aggregating local results and certifying the official state results. Some states assign this responsibility to a single official, such as the Secretary of State.