Redwood City, CA – With growing interest in the upcoming election, Warren Slocum, San Mateo County’s Chief Election Officer, reminded voters that the elections process is open and available to interested persons and political groups. “What we do in order to prepare for Election Day determines whether or not Election Day is a success,” explained Slocum.

One of the most critical pre-election procedures is Logic & Accuracy (L & A) testing. Observers may sign up with the Election Division to watch the staff test the voting machines for accuracy from October 24 to October 27. Observers will have an up-close view of the tightly controlled testing and verification process that ensures accurate vote tabulation on Election Day.

Staff will run “test decks” through 424 Eagle vote tabulating machines that voters see in their polling places each election. Test decks are stacks of test ballots that have been hand-marked, checked, re-checked, and tabulated to reflect all the possible voting choices on the 60 ballot styles used in this election – including Spanish and Chinese language ballots.

By feeding the pre-marked and tabulated ballots into the Eagle machine and checking the results against the pre-marked results grid for that ballot style, the test deck trials determine if the counting and reporting features on each vote tabulation machine are working accurately. “If the vote tabulation machines are 100% accurate, we use them,” explained Slocum, “if a voting machine doesn’t pass the L & A test, we won’t use it.”

Qualified political parties within the County may designate a representative to observe the process in accordance with the Elections Code. Members of the public may also observe the process in person. The Elections Division requests that all observers contact the Elections Office at (650) 312.5370 to obtain further information and regulations regarding elections observers.

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