Stearns County Getting Ready to Test Voting Machines

(KNSI) – Stearns County is getting ready to test the machines that will count the ballots on Election Day. Officials say it’s all about ensuring the election is secure and accurate.

“We do what we call a public accuracy test. We test the programming and the machines for the county absentee process. Each municipality will also do a public accuracy test on their programming for their municipality in their machines,” said Stearns County Election Supervisor Roxanne Gerads.

The accuracy test is Thursday, October 27th at 8:00 a.m. at the Stearns County Service Center in Waite Park. Gerads explained how the ballot machines are tested. “We take what we call a pre-marked test deck. We take those and we run them through the machine. And then once we complete that, we’ll run the tape and then we compare those results to a spreadsheet that we get and make sure that all the numbers come across correctly.”

On Election Day, sealed ballot boxes will be returned to the service center and kept in a secure area that can only be accessed by election staff. All ballots are stored for 22 months.

Anyone with election questions should call the Stearns County Election Office at 320-656-3920.

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