Mark Songer is Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Florida and member of LWV of the Lower Keys

Testing Monroe County Voting Machines – How it is done

By Mark Songer

I have a lot of confidence in Joyce Griffin and her team at the Supervisor of Elections office. But I was curious about how they would test the voting machines. So, I spent two hours on July 28 observing the “L & A” — Logic and Accuracy — testing procedures to better understand how Monroe County’s votes are counted.

In addition to a few staff members, four experienced poll workers performed testing on randomly selected machines that will be hauled out to 33 precincts for the Aug. 18, 2020, primary.

“I know that this is going to work, because we do a 100% test on our machines before each election,” said Joyce. The testing was documentation for the Canvassing Board to help them certify the count. Although Canvassing Board members didn’t need to be present, Judge Peary Fowler joined the group for an overview of the testing and the initial set up.

All the machines were set up and ready for testing, but only 10 of the 66 precinct machines were booted up. The system detected a valid security token from the special key used when the system is turned on. I vote in precinct 7 and the #2 machine was one tested. I was fortunate to stay in the Key West room to watch that and Precinct 11 #2 machine also had ADA procedures tested.

Other rooms held machines for Lower Keys, Marathon and the Upper Keys. The separate rooms helped with six-foot social distancing and everyone wore masks. Machines were well-labeled, secured by numbered seals and the well-trained poll workers went straight to work testing.

A pre-marked deck of ballots was fed into each of the selected machines. Before ballots were scanned, a tape was printed to show zero vote totals for all candidates and races that apply to the Precinct. After all the test ballots were fed into the machine, another tape printed to show the totals.

The processed ballots were removed from the machine and stored. Joyce personally reviewed all the vote counts and signed off that the counts were accurate. Then the machines were programed to zero out all votes. That’s really important, because they will be delivered to the polling locations in just two weeks for real ballots. This process took about 45 minutes.

The only ‘glitch’ I saw was a stubborn refusal for the modem on precinct 11 machine to connect by telephone line to the Supervisor’s office.

“I guarantee that at least one machine will have trouble uploading on election night. That’s why you see reports for most precincts, but one is a hold up,” Joyce explained.

The backup plan involves taking the memory card from the machine, placing it in a special envelope and having the poll worker drive it to the Supervisor’s office. Then it is plugged into another machine and the votes are uploaded to the consolidated system.  If that fails, there are still paper ballots that can be counted by machine.

“We’ve had phone line problems at polling locations in the past. One time a bank had a credit card machine on the same line as we used to upload,” she added. The backup procedure insures an accurate vote count.

That phone connection speeds up election day reporting and enables a secure system without an internet connection.

“I don’t think any Florida county has a system with an internet connection. It’s not possible to hack into our system and alter vote counts,” Joyce told me.

The most involved testing happened inside the Supervisor’s office. There is one room pretty much dedicated to counting Vote By Mail ballots. VBM live ballot counting starts before the election day. It has taken three full days in the past to count 18,000 VBM ballots.

All Monroe County VBM ballots are returned to the Key West office, so the machine used must be able to identify and track the precinct that the ballot relates to. The test deck was first counted to confirm the number of ballots. Then it was processed to count the votes. If there was a discrepancy in the number of ballots, the deck could be voided and processed again.

One ballot had a small print error and the system didn’t count it. The testing solution was to duplicate that ballot, add it to the deck and run the batch again.

I was encouraged to see the volume of VBM ballots already stored by precinct for the August 18 primary. Ballots are logged into the system the date they are received, either in the mail or by drop off. Signature matches are made when logging the envelope into the system.

If there is an issue, a letter will be sent to the voter informing them of the mismatch and how to correct it. If the voter has provided a phone number or email, the office will call or email the voter in addition to sending the letter.

On testing day there was a small group of problem ballots in a separate bin, probably fewer than 20. VBM envelopes are not actually opened until it is time to count these ballots in advance of the election. To check the status of your VBM ballot, use this link: https://www.keyselections.org/Voters/My-Vote-by-Mail-Status

New this year was a portable drop box near the parking area. A college student was hired to monitor the drop box and to offer to help people bringing ballots to safely drop it without entering the Lester Building. But the staff at the election office are happy to receive your ballot directly. Because the drop box is emptied and stored each night, drop off is only available from 8:30 to 5:00 on days the office is open.

I have seen in the past how well the elections department works as a team. It is very apparent that they take a lot of pride in their work.

Joyce related to me how she was inspired by our armed forces and the courage they show protecting us. Their sacrifice is for naught if citizens’ votes are not accurately counted and reported. The staff is focused and proud of their contribution to our community and to the nation.

[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]