Early voting starts Oct. 17
As the start of early voting for the Nov. 8 general election draws near, Gilmer County’s voting machines were put to the test last week.
More specifically, they underwent logic and accuracy testing to ensure the machinery operates correctly come voting time.
All machines used by the county for early voting at the registrar’s office and at precincts on Election Day were put through the testing process, which gauges the devices’ ability to correctly display, print and record ballots.
“There’s quite a bit to it,” said county election office tech Dustin Long, who tested the machines along with fellow election office tech Jake Brooks. “From start to finish, it generally takes us around 30 hours to prepare and probably 40 hours by the time we get the machines set up at the precincts.”
The logic and accuracy testing starts with loading election ballot information to a server and running a test deck of 150 printed ballots through the ballot scanners.
Once that’s been done, the election ballot is loaded on to the voting machines, and test ballots from each precinct are printed and scanned into a tabulator, which keeps track of scanned ballots.
“Each (machine) goes through the same process. We set up the election just like it’s going to be (during the actual voting),” Long said. “We take the results upstairs and run them through our process to make sure everything is good. Once everything’s good, we re-zero everything out and start over.”
Working with the machines prior to an election involves several tamper-proof steps including locking the data ports of the machines.
“We reseal anything we had to open. Generally, when we seal all these (machines) they’re sealed until they’re ready to be used,” said Long.
The voting machinery, which runs on software developed by Dominion Voting Systems, was first used in Georgia’s 2020 elections. The technology changeover added such new devices as printers connected to the voting machines, and the tabulators, which use specific QR codes to keep track of printed ballots.
At first, each voting machine was precinct specific and could only be used at one designated polling place. Now, a code system allows the machines to go to any precinct that needs them, Long explained.
“Basically, any machine can be taken to any precinct and utilized. When we first got them and you had an issue with a machine that went down, you’d have to come back and redo a whole machine and set it up specifically for that precinct,” said Long. “Now, we can replace machines pretty quickly.”
That’s among the tasks that Long and Brooks expect to do each Election Day as they run troubleshooting for the county office.
“The night before an election, we test the ones going out (to the precincts) to make sure they print properly, the batteries are charged and there’s no broken screen or broken anything,” Long said. “(On Election Day), we run trouble all day. If a machine goes down, we’ll run out and try to repair it.”
Paper absentee ballots are also scanned in and recorded using similar technology, Long noted.
“We still scan it with basically the same machine, but it operates in a different manner. It actually reads markings on paper, instead of a QR code,” he added.
Early voting starts soon
Early voting at the Gilmer Registrar’s Office, 1 Broad Street Suite 107, will begin Monday, Oct. 17. The last day for early voting will be Friday, Nov. 4. Hours are Monday-Friday, from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., and on two Saturdays — Oct. 22 and 29 — from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. There will be no Sunday early voting.
Races for Georgia governor and lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state schools superintendent, U.S. Senate, 9th District Congress, state attorney general and others will appear on the local ballot.
Gilmer school board and post two commissioner candidates will also appear on the ballot, but those races were already decided by either the May 24 primary or the subsequent June runoff for post two commissioner.
John Marshall is the lone post two candidate on the upcoming ballot, while Michael Bramlett and Jacob Callihan are each a sole candidate for the post 4 and post 5 school board seats.
The voter registration deadline is Oct. 11. The deadline for submitting absentee ballot requests is Oct. 28.
Chief Registrar Tammy Watkins said a sample ballot was expected to be ready by this week. Sample ballots can be obtained from the registrar’s office. Registered users can also view a sample ballot online at Georgia’s official My Voter page (mvp.sos.ga.gov).