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    • Tuscaloosa County is checking voting machines ahead of the Nov. 5 election
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    Tuscaloosa County is checking voting machines ahead of the Nov. 5 election

    Online Niel Posted on

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    A Sept. 24 Gallup poll showed that just under 60 percent of the voting public is confident that the vote will be accurately cast and counted in the upcoming presidential election.

    Tuscaloosa County Probate Judge Rob Robertson led a small group of citizens through the county’s voting equipment certification process Oct. 24 at the secure warehouse at the Sheriff Beasor B. Walker Law Enforcement Complex in Tuscaloosa.

    Tuscaloosa County has 54 polling stations and each will be equipped with the same equipment. There are voter registers containing voter registration information that are loaded onto the devices before they leave the secure facility. Those machines are used to verify voter identification. There will be one express voting machine in each polling station to accommodate people with special needs.

    Each polling station will have two or more DS200 vote counting machines, which also securely store manually marked ballot papers for later counting if this becomes necessary.

    “We’re going to make sure all the machines are zeroed and we’re going to run the ballots and work through them randomly,” Roberts said of the verification process.

    The ballots used are standardized across the state and are required by state law so that all voting machines can be tested using the same ballots regardless of where they are located.

    Robertson said poll workers arrive at least an hour before the polls open at 7 a.m. and stay until at least an hour after they close at 7 p.m. Anyone who is at the polling station when the polls close will be allowed to vote even if it is after closing time.

    Once all votes have been cast, the vote tabulation process begins. Robertson said he has no way to remotely monitor polling places. None of the voting equipment is equipped with a modem or external connection of any kind in Tuscaloosa County. This helps ensure that no outside entity can tamper with the voting equipment.

    Robertson said he would like to see every state vote with paper ballots, as covered here.

    “If there’s any reason we have to go back, we have those hard ballots that came out of the machines. I totally agree and want everyone to do the process we do with the paper ballot. I think this is the best thing. It’s a good way to vote,” Robertson said.

    At the end of the day, workers close the polling station. They post the voting machine printout for each machine for public view at the polling station and transfer the ballots and voting data back to the Sheriff Beasor B. Walker Law Enforcement Complex for verification. Paper ballots are kept safe in case a recount is required or if there is a voting irregularity that needs to be investigated.

    “When we close the polls, everything balances out. That’s what supervisors and inspectors do with their poll workers. They count all the used and unused ballots. They’ll run the machine tapes from each machine. There are multiple copies of them. One copy is taped to wall at the polling place outside the door where it is publicly visible so you can see the number for that polling place,” Robertson said.

    “We also receive copies of those tapes. There is a data stick that is taken out of these (the DS200 machines) and that is put into the packets that come here for central processing. When we get those data sticks, we have the hard copy and check that the votes match. Everything seems right,” said Robertson.

    Robertson said the public is welcome to watch the verification process after the polls close on election night in the training room at the Sheriff Beasor B. Walker Police Complex on Investigator Dornell Cousette Street in Tuscaloosa.

    Of the county’s 54 polling places, the largest is the Bobby Miller Activity Center, where 10,500 people are registered to vote. It is the largest polling place in Alabama. The county employs 500 trained poll workers who must go through a training process to be authorized to work the polls. This year, 20 high school students who were nominated by their respective schools will work as interns at polling stations, observing the process and assisting voters, although they will not be used in place of poll workers.

    “Our survey age workers love it. Younger people learn from older people,” Robertson said.

    Contact Gary Cosby Jr. at [email protected].

    Online Niel
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