Athens voting machines to be tested in advance of June runoff

There will be testing of voting machines that will used in a June 18 runoff in Athens: the Athens-Clarke County Elections Office says all voting equipment will be checked on Tuesday of next week. Next month’s runoff pits incumbent Claudia Butts and challenger Mary Bagby in the race for the District 2 seat on the Clarke County School Board. Butts and Bagby were the top voters in a three-candidate School Board election held on May 21.

From the Athens-Clarke Co government website…

The Athens-Clarke County Elections Department will conduct a logic and accuracy test on all voting equipment that will be used in the upcoming June 18, 2024 General Primary/Nonpartisan Election Runoff.

The testing will begin on Tuesday, June 4, 2024 at 10:00 AM at the Athens-Clarke County Facilities and Landscape Management Building located at 2555 Lexington Road, Athens, Georgia, 30605 and will continue until all units have been tested and proven accurate. Testing will run from 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM each day until completion.

Political parties/bodies, news media, and the general public are invited to view the logic and accuracy testing.

The State of Georgia requires logic and accuracy testing through specific procedures prior to every election. As part of the process, staff with the Athens-Clarke County Elections Department run tests on the paper-based voting units, the check-in system, and the optical scan system used for recording absentee ballots.

The first part of the process involves receiving the secure election database from the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office for the upcoming election. The system uses this database to create memory cards for the voting equipment, program the voting equipment, and produce ballots and reports.

Once the memory cards are created for the voting system, the logic and accuracy procedures test the proper creation of the voter access cards, display of the ballot on the screen, printing of the paper ballot, scanning of the paper ballot, vote collection, and tabulation results. During the process, units are calibrated, physically inspected, and recorded.

All races, headers, race titles, candidates, and placement order of candidates are visually checked on the touch-screen units. Testing is performed using voter access cards. Ballots are also checked to confirm proper audio and magnification assistance features.

After a machine is tested and proven accurate, it is sealed and stored in a secure building until Election Day. Access to this building is tightly controlled. The Athens-Clarke County Elections Department and Board of Elections follow all state laws contained in the Official Code of Georgia and State Election Board rules concerning the testing and storing of voting equipment.

For more information, contact the Board of Elections at 706-613-3150 or visit www.accgov.com/elections.

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