COLUMBUS, Ohio — Bipartisan poll workers meticulously testing and checking every piece of equipment that will be used on Election Day.  

What You Need To Know

  • Board of elections across the state are testing and checking thousands of voting equipment to ensure accuracy on election day

  • The Franklin County board of elections added a newer electronic fencing system in their warehouse as an added layer of security when no one is there 

  • If a voting machine is faulty, the board of elections has technicians scattered across the state readily available for immediate assistance and will fix the machine

“What we do, we take this seriously. And it is this is our job. This is what we do for a living, to make sure that when a voter comes in contact with us, maybe once or twice or three times in a year, that they can go in and cast their ballot and feel secure,” said Aaron Sellers, the public information officer for the Franklin county board of elections. 

It’s called logic and accuracy testing, and it happens every year to ensure the voting process is as accurate as possible. 

“For the public, once they realize how things work here in Ohio, not only in Franklin County, but across the state, this is what goes on in every board of elections across the state of Ohio,” said Sellers. 

Voting protection is top of mind for boards of elections across the state. In Cuyahoga County, year old voting equipment can only be accessed using two keys, both belonging to a democrat and republican. In Franklin County, the warehouse, where the voting equipment is stored, has an added layer of security.

“You’ll see some electronic fencing equipment in here that’s newer that we turn on when nobody’s in here. That is as a security measure to make sure that nothing in here is tampered when nobody’s in here,” said Sellers. 

According to the Franklin County board of elections, it takes about half an hour for their bipartisan teams to check a batch of voting machines. But they have thousands to go through. 

“They’re rolling through this stuff pretty quickly, but it does take weeks for us to do this because we’ve got over 3,000 pieces of equipment that they’ll have to look for,” said Sellers. 

Relentlessly working to make sure your vote counts, boards of elections in Ohio keep testing and checking because they know the importance of an honest election. 

“We bend over backwards to make sure that we run fair, open and honest elections. And I would just think to the public, once they know what we do here at the board, I don’t think they would have any issues in the integrity of what we do,” said Sellers. 

The Franklin County BOE said if a piece of voting equipment appears to be faulty, they have technicians scattered across the state on election day readily available to provide immediate assistance and fix the machine.

“The election results that you see, the unofficial results that you see on election night, will be everything that we have. And when we certify that election 21 days later, folks can rest assured that every valid ballot that was cast in this state will be counted,” said Sellers.