How are ballots counted and verified?
You may know every vote counts, but let's take a look at how every vote is counted in Hamilton County.
By Trista Ridge, Contributor
Voting machines and ballots
In Hamilton County, voters fill out ballots by hand, and then poll officials help feed them into a machine. The machines are highly secure scanners that operate with software from Dominion Voting Systems.
How these machines work:
The machine scans each paper ballot, interprets each hand-marked selection, and tabulates each vote.
The system digitally stores an image of every ballot on encrypted memory cards.
Each scanned image is attached to the record of how each vote was counted, so that each ballot can be easily audited for accuracy.
Voting machines and election servers are never connected to the internet or WiFi.
Why do we use hand-marked paper ballots?
Hamilton County uses hand-marked paper ballots, because they:
Minimize the technology used between the voter and their vote
Minimize the possibility of error from machine malfunction, mis-calibration, or hacking
Are intuitive and easy to use, leading to fewer user errors
Provide a paper trail if a recount is required
Can be audited as a way to detect voting machine problems
Machine auditing process
The voting machines go through testing to ensure each ballot is recorded correctly. Since switching to these machines in 2010, all audits and tests conducted in Hamilton County have reported zero inaccuracies in the voting machines and software.
Here’s a breakdown of the auditing process:
Pre-election:
A deck of test ballots with an oval filled in for each candidate is created and reviewed by auditors.
Election Commission machine technicians conduct tests on each voting machine to make sure the results correspond to the vote recorded by hand.
The machine technicians conduct the test again with third-party auditors watching the process.
Once a machine is proven to be consistent and accurate, the vote totals are reset to zero, and the technicians sign off on each machine tape—the paper that vote results are printed on.
The auditors watch the technicians seal the memory card and scanner feed compartments so that any tampering will be evident. The unique serialized number of each seal is recorded on a log sheet maintained by the auditors.
Election night:
The third-party auditing firm is present at the Election Commission office during election night.
After the polls close, the auditors confirm that the numbered seals over the memory card compartment match the one that was recorded during the pre-election audit, then they remove the encrypted memory cards with images of every scanned ballot from the voting machine.
An auditor observes each election commission staff member as they upload the memory cards into the central vote count server.
Precincts are selected at random to be audited the day after the election.
If any irregularities were found in a machine while the polls were open, that machine is added to a pool of precincts to be audited.
Post-election:
The random precinct audit occurs, which includes a hand count of the number of ballot applications, ballot stubs, and poll book signatures.
All unused ballots are accounted for to ensure that all issued ballots are documented and present.
Auditors select a random early voting day and location and do a hand count of the ballot applications to compare to what the system shows for the number of people who should have cast ballots at that location.
Above is a summary of the machine auditing procedures. If you're interested in all the details, read them here.
Find your sample ballot and polling location
Visit the Hamilton County Election Commission to find information you need for Election Day, specific to your district.
Hamilton County Election Commission
Early voting is open July 15 - July 30
If you want to go ahead and vote (and avoid any Election Day lines), you can cast your ballot at one of a few select locations, listed at the link below.
