Contact: Mark Church, Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder
Alternate: David Tom, Elections Division Manager
(Redwood City, CA) Logic and Accuracy testing (“L&A”) of the eSlate voting system equipment will begin Monday, September 21, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. for the November 3, 2015 Consolidated Municipal, School & Special District All-Mailed Ballot Election, according to Mark Church, Chief Elections Officer & Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder. L&A will take approximately four days and will be conducted at the Registration & Elections Division at 40 Tower Road, San Mateo. Members of the public are encouraged to observe this process.
"L&A is an essential measure that ensures all voting equipment used in the upcoming election functions properly”, explained Mark Church. The San Mateo County Registration and 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.
Prior to every election, L&A is performed in two phases on the voting system’s vote counting software.
The first phase of L&A focuses on the electronic votes cast on the eSlate voting machines. The elections staff uses “test” versions of the English, Spanish and Chinese ballots that include all contests in the November 3, 2015 election. This phase is passed only when there is a perfect match between the test votes cast and the predetermined test results.
The second phase of L&A 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 scanner works in connection with the vote counting system called Ballot Now. Ballot Now accepts voting marks within the predetermined space on the ballot and records them. This phase is completed only when there is a perfect match between the test votes cast and the predetermined test results.
Additionally, every voting machine will undergo functional testing. Functional testing ensures the proper operation of every dial, button, connector and other hardware components of the voting machines. This testing process confirms that the voting machines are loaded with the correct system software and firmware, as certified by the Secretary of State.
Upon completion of L&A and functional testing, 178 eSlate voting machines will be deployed to 32 universal polling places and 2 Voting Centers for the November 3, 2015 Consolidated Municipal, School & Special District All-Mailed Ballot Election.
For more information about the November 3, 2015 Consolidated Municipal, School & Special District All-Mailed Ballot Election, call the Registration & Elections Division at 650.312.5222 or visit www.shapethefuture.org.
The press release is displayed in its original format. San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder & Elections website now resides at www.smcacre.org