As part of the preparations for the 2024 General Election, The Alexander County Board of Elections will conduct special tests on all voting equipment to be used in the election. “Logic and Accuracy” (L&A) tests ensure each voting system will correctly count and tabulate every ballot cast.
Any interested person may observe the testing of the voting equipment but shall not interfere with or impede the process. The Alexander County Board of Elections plans to begin testing on Thursday September 12 and continue on a daily basis until complete. Testing will be conducted weekdays 8:00 am to 5:00pm. Please contact the Board of Elections for more details about L&A testing.
Here’s how L&A tests work:
Test ballots are marked by hand and by ballot-marking devices before they are counted by the tabulator. These test ballots are filled out according to a test script, which is designed to simulate the various combinations of selections voters could make on their ballots during actual voting.
These marked, test ballots are inserted by hand into every tabulator that will be used for one-stop early voting, Election Day, or to count absentee-by-mail or provisional ballots.
Test results from the ballots are recorded on a memory device in the tabulator.
The tabulator also prints the test results onto a paper tape.
The memory device is removed from the tabulator and inserted into a central computer in a secure area, where results stored on the memory device are compared to the paper tape results and the original test script used to mark the ballots. The results must match exactly for the test to be successful.
After logic and accuracy testing is complete, voting equipment is sealed and locked in a secure area until transported to the voting place. Tamper-evident seals are placed on media ports. Voting machines are never connected to the internet. They do not have modems. A person would have to have physical access to the machine to install any type of virus or malware.