Getting the New Equipment Ready
Setting Up the new Equipment Hardware
New Equipment hardware is set up and powered on to inspect functioning. Next, the software is carefully tested to ensure all components work properly. This process, known as “Acceptance Testing,” is a required and final part of the purchase process.
Acceptance Testing
Staff conduct Acceptance Testing on the ballot tally equipment. Staff use test ballots with known results to test voting system hardware and ballot tally software. Ballots are scanned to create identical images; next, ballot images are inspected for readiness to be tallied.
Ballot Inspection
The ballot inspection process will uncover problems with voter ballots. If a ballot is damaged or a voter makes ambiguous or extraneous marks that could interfere with accurate tallying, California law allows staff to create a duplicate ballot. The new voting system’s technology uses ballot images to confirm a voter’s choices before the ballot is tallied. This new process called “Adjudication,” replaces the old voting system’s time-consuming manual process to remake duplicate ballots (it was common for staff to remake thousands of ballots!).
Poll Worker Training
Poll Workers are trained on new voting system. Election Day, March 5, 2019, will mark the debut of the new voting system in Sonoma County.
