(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The Clerk and Recorder’s Office has conducted a test on all voting system equipment that will be used for the General Election on Nov. 5.
The Office performed a public Logic and Accuracy test (L&A) which began on Thursday, Oct. 3, and anticipated its completion date to be Thursday, Oct. 10. However, the test was finalized earlier, and on Wednesday, Oct. 9, the office confirmed tests were completed.
The L&A test consists of three components:
- System Function Test: requires a pre-printed test deck with known results. It allows the Office to be confident that a vote for every choice is tested and placed in the right “bucket” of results.
- This test also verifies that the election was programmed correctly by county staff in the Election Management System (EMS).
- Hardware Function Test: ensures all of the EMS hardware will be used in the election functions properly.
- Examples include powering devices on and off, checking battery-powered devices, and printing from ImageCastX ballot marking devices.
- Integrity Check: The final part requires the Party Balanced Testing Board to select a sample of a minimum of 25 blank ballots to vote as they choose. The Testing Board then makes a hand tally of these ballots and checks against the machine count after they are tabulated on a scanner.
- This test makes an effort to achieve the highest confidence in EMS vote tabulation. It can be as large as a board wants it to be.
During the L&A test, members of the bipartisan Testing Board administered and confirmed nearly 30,000 voted test ballots were cast on each voting unit to ensure that it recorded votes accurately. In addition, the appointed Testing Board also voted 25 random ballots each and then compared their hand count to tabulated results.
The L&A Certification for Voting Equipment was signed by the Testing Board and is retained as an official election record. The Certification will remain with the L&A test ballots for 25 months.
The Office said all test results are cleared, and the voting units are locked, sealed, and secured ready to be used in the election in November.
