Blue Earth County election officials invited the public to view its required testing of vote-counting equipment last week and no one showed.
That may be a vote of confidence that election officials and their equipment can be trusted.
Still, it was important Blue Earth County conduct the test and promoted public participation by issuing a news release that was published to some 20,000 Free Press readers.
The machines are required to be tested before every election, so the recent tests were for the Aug. 13 primary. Another test will be conducted before the Nov. 5 general election.
Election judges were on hand to participate in the testing. State law requires election judges declare themselves to represent one of the two major political parties and one person from each party oversees the ballot counting so there is no appearance of party favoritism. Judges are chosen to participate for another layer of oversight of the process by someone who is not a county elections worker.
The test counting involves putting ballots in the optical scanner to see if the machine can flag wrongly marked ballots.
The machine is programmed to reject ballots on which candidates for both parties were selected on a primary ballot. Primary election rules call for voters to vote for only one party in primaries. The counters also are designed to catch “over votes,” when someone votes for too many candidates.
The voting machines performed as required and programmed last week. Blue Earth County Elections Administrator Michael Stalberger also noted that as the programmer of the machines, his work is also tested.
Every county in Minnesota must conduct the test. The tests are just one of many ways the election system is checked for accuracy and that every vote is counted. There are a number of other safeguards in an extensive list of Minnesota voting regulations that not only make sure votes are counted but are designed to catch illegitimate votes.
Minnesota’s system of voting is also transparent. Election officials are always on hand to answer questions from the public. The fact that no one showed to watch the accuracy ballot counting test shows widespread support for the integrity of the system.
Minnesota has always had strong voter turnout for decades, and that’s another sign that people trust the process.