Voting machines tested

“We’re printing out the receipts to test the equipment,” Doane told onlookers Connie Purchase and Janet Kresse, explaining her steps as she went through the testing process. 

Kresse, the county’s Democratic recorder of deeds, and  Purchase, the county’s Republican auditor, served as party observers for the testing.

After checking the touch screen, Doane ran 32 ballots though the optical scanner to ensure accuracy. 

“We have to run all your ballots, Democrat, Republican and Libertarian,” Doane said.

Missouri residents will head to the polls Tuesday to vote in primary elections from the local to the state level. Locally contested races include both the Republican nomination for the county’s Eastern Commission seat and the Democratic slot for the Western Commissioner position. Both Democrats and Republicans will choose nominees to run for Sedalia’s 118th District state House seat.

Each of the county’s 25 precincts will receive an optical scan and touch-screen device for the primaries. The county started using the optical scan machines in 2005 and the touch screen in 2006. 

The touch screens fulfill requirements laid out by the American with Disabilities Act. The machines can read the ballot to visually impaired voters, and votes are recorded on paper and stored in a secure canister as part of the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail system.

Doane held a testing session at 10 a.m. in her second-floor office at the Pettis County Courthouse. She said a few problems, such as printer ribbons or paper jams, have cropped up through the years but the machines have had no major malfunctions.

Both Kresse and Purchase seemed satisfied with the testing.

“They wish the election night went that smooth, I guarantee you,” Purchase said.