MADISON, Wis. — Communities across Wisconsin are conducting public tests of their voting machines ahead of Election Day.

What You Need To Know

  • With less than a week to go, leaders with the Madison Clerk’s Office were hard at work Wednesday, testing over 100 machines that will be used to count ballots

  • By law, these tests are open to the public

  • Using pre-marked test ballots, workers feed them into each machine to test whether the machine is recording the votes correctly

  • Once it’s tested, each machine is locked and sealed before it is sent to its polling place
 

With less than a week to go, leaders with the Madison Clerk’s Office were hard at work Wednesday, testing over 100 machines that will be used to count ballots. By law, these tests are open to the public.

Mary Owen came from Waterloo to observe the test.

“There’s just been a lot of controversy over the past several years about election integrity,” Owen said. “I want to do my part to just be part of the solution.”

Using pre-marked test ballots, workers feed them into each machine to test whether the machine is recording the votes correctly.

Once it’s tested, each machine is locked and sealed before it is sent to its polling place.

“When the chief inspector of that location opens up the polls, that they’re verifying that all the seals match what was here when we sealed it up and then that way it’s nice and safe and secure,” said Jim Verbick, deputy clerk with the City of Madison.

Verbick said he understands the growing concerns many people have about the integrity of the nation’s elections, especially after technical issues with printing ballot envelope labels caused a slowdown for early voting in Wisconsin last week.

“I’ve not seen a machine fail,” he said. “It’s been a human error of ballots not being fed in, or a ballot being marked unlike how we expected it to be marked in our test ballots that we made.”

After observing testing, Owen said she still has some apprehension about the technology involved.

“My biggest concern really is what happens on Election Day if there is an electrical grid shut down, because the bigger municipalities are absolutely more at risk than my tiny little bubble,” she said.

Verbick said that’s why public testing is so important. He said he wants voters to know that the clerk’s office is happy to address any questions or concerns.

“A lot of things like even our election testing stuff that we’re doing today,” Verbick said. “We still have to retain that for 22 months after a federal election, so all of it’s kept open, and it’s requestable if anyone needs to do so.”

Owen said she left the test feeling more knowledgeable about the process. She said she encourages voters to be curious and ask questions.

“I figure if I have a question, someone else might have a question, and I think it helps with the transparency,” Owen said.

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