Voting System Test Open To Public By San Mateo County

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — Wanna see democracy in action?

San Mateo County will test its new voting system called the Dominion Democracy Suite for its logic and accuracy this Thursday less than two months before the Consolidated Municipal, School and Special District Election scheduled Nov. 5, the Registration & Elections Division announced on National Voter Registration Day.

The public is invited to watch the tabulations in the critical process starting at 10 a.m. at 40 Tower Road in San Mateo.

"Logic and Accuracy testing ensures all voting equipment used in the upcoming election functions properly," said Mark Church, elections officer & assessor-county clerk.

Before every election, the San Mateo County Registration & Elections Division manually
tests the voting system’s vote counting software through sample ballot-casting exercises to
verify if votes are correctly tabulated and recorded.

Whereas there may have been a day in which standard procedure seemed routine. Given the federal findings of foreign influence and tampering in the 2016 presidential election, these are no ordinary times.

One could argue a municipal election represents an ideal test run for the 2020 general election that is expected to bring a higher voter turnout.

The "L&A" testing is performed in two phases. The first phase focuses on votes marked on the
ballot marking tablets. The elections staff will use test versions of the English, Spanish and
Chinese ballots. This phase is passed only when there is a perfect match between the test votes cast and the predetermined test results.

The second phase focuses on paper ballot voting. The English, Spanish and Chinese
paper ballots used for testing are clearly identified as test ballots. The votes marked on the
paper ballots are recorded by running the ballots through a digital scanner-tabulator. This phase is completed only when there is a perfect match between the test votes cast and the predetermined test results.

Upon completion of L&A and functional testing, 90 ballot marking devices will be ready to be deployed to 18 voting centers for the upcoming election.

The Nov. 5 election will be the third election San Mateo County conducts under the California Voter’s Choice Act model. Traditional polling places have been replaced by these voting centers, which will be open for voting for a greater period of time, and which will offer expanded services including voter registration, multilingual assistance and disabled access voting options.

Every registered voter in an area holding an election will receive a vote-by-mail ballot, which can be returned with no postage required in any mailbox or ballot drop box located throughout the county.

More information on the upcoming election may be accessed by calling 650-312-5222 or visiting www.smcacre.org.