Public Can Attend SOE Equipment Testing Tuesday

MANATEE COUNTY — The public is welcome to attend the legally required "L and A" (public logic and accuracy meeting) meeting at the SOE office on Tuesday, Aug. 6, at 9 a.m. The canvassing board will meet, and the vote tabulating equipment will be tested.

The intent is to prove that the machines are programmed to read ballots and count votes accurately. A sample group of tabulation machines and sample ballots will be used for this test.

Workers will run the test ballots through the machines to ensure that the machine accurately reports the voting tabulation on the sample/test ballot. This process is used to identify errors and/or confirm that tab machines are operating accurately prior to use for ballot tabulations.

Following the test verification, if everything is working as intended, the canvassing board may permit workers to begin opening signature-verified mail-in ballots.