Voting machines in Georgia are being put through their paces this week ahead of the Presidential Primary on March 12.
Elections offices across the state are running state-mandated Logic and Accuracy (L&A) tests. In Habersham County, testing started Monday, Jan. 22, and will continue until all of the county’s voting machines are tested.
The L&A test ensures that each voting machine, printer, ballot scanner, and memory device works properly so that each vote can be certified after the election.
Habersham election workers are testing over 80 voting machines, 80 printers, and 10 scanners and memory devices this week.
Since the next election is a Presidential Preference Primary, staff are ensuring that the different ballots load correctly depending on the voter’s preference. They are also making sure that a vote cast for a candidate is recorded, printed, and counted correctly.
Habersham Elections Tech/Coordinator Izac Martin says every device used for an election will be tested in every scenario possible, as if it were election day, to ensure it functions properly and counts and records every vote.
The testing is like a mock election, with votes cast on the machine, printed, and scanned at the precinct. Once that is completed, the memory device is taken to the elections office and uploaded to the central terminal, ready to send to the Secretary of State’s Office.
This type of testing occurs prior to each election, including runoffs, says Habersham County Senior Elections Assistant Derek LaPerriere. This year the elections office is preparing for at least five testing cycles due to three elections and the possibility of two run-offs.
The testing is being done at the Habersham South Precinct storage facility, next door to the future South Voting Precinct at 365 Habersham County Shopping Center in Cornelia. The public is invited to observe.
