JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Duval County Supervisor of Elections Office on Friday tested voting equipment ahead of the city election next month to make sure the machines are working and counting votes correctly.
The Logic and Accuracy Test, which took place at the Election Center on Imeson Park Boulevard, did not find any problems.
These tests have been required in Florida for years, even before the voting process came under scrutiny following the last presidential election.
During the test, which is run before each election, ballot scanners are randomly selected and sample ballots are counted to test their accuracy.
The test was open to the public, but only two observers showed up Friday: Daniel Henry, the Duval County Democratic Party chair, and Andrew Moss from the Republican Party of Duval County.
“We’re here just to make sure that the election, you know, there’s integrity in the election, just observe the process, make sure the machines are accurately counting the votes and giving our voters confidence for the election coming up,” Moss said.
Henry also believes everything is in order.
“To be able to see that when people cast the ballot, they can know that it’s going to be accurately counted and that they can really trust the process,” Henry said.
Henry said he trusts this process.
“I think that our elections here locally have been done in a way that people can have confidence in. and everyone should feel encouraged to go out there and cast their ballot,” Henry said.
At the end of the day, all the machines and the counts were accurate. Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan said they are ready to go — vote-by-mail ballots are coming back, early voting begins March 6, and election day is March 21. He hopes the voters turn out but said the negative campaigning could have an impact.
“It’s getting ugly. It has been getting ugly for several years. You know, I’ve never wanted to damage my opponent. I ran. I wanted to win the seat. Today, it’s how much artillery can I aim at this guy or gal to kill them? And I know the public’s upset about it. I’m getting emails,” Hogan said.
The supervisor of elections office is calling for a 30% to 35% turnout.