WHEATLAND– The public was invited to a viewing of election machine testing and sealing conducted by Platte County Clerk, Malcolm Ervin, and Election Deputy, Cherish Keck. The task took 10 hours to complete, and approximately a dozen people from multiple political parties and towns from throughout the county attended. Clerk Ervin answered questions about the process, funding, safeguards, and other election-related inquiries throughout the day.

Beginning the day was a testing and sealing of 14 ExpressVote ballot marking devices that are designed to assist with hearing or vision-impaired individuals with voting. The machines include a ballot reader that assists the voter in reviewing the printed document to determine it is read as the voter intended, prior to inserting the document into the tabulator. Each function on the machine was checked by participants from the audience, and all ballot types that will be used were tested to make sure they were correctly viewed and marked by each machine.

Then nine DS200 ballot counting devices were tested, with a cross-check by a hand-counted tally to verify each ballot type was correctly read by the machines.

“We tested 595 ballots to ensure the equipment was counting each vote accurately. The test was successful in confirming the devices accurately count ballots as cast, and it also confirmed the ExpressVote ballot marking devices marked ballots as voters intended,” Ervin said.

“The public Test of Voting equipment was successful in confirming the election equipment utilized in Platte County is accurately counting votes as marked on a voter’s ballot,” Ervin concluded. “I am appreciative of each person who took the time out of their day to view the test, specifically Daryl Tiltrum, Willie Allison, Ken Taylor, and Lucinda Houtchens, who stayed out for the entirety of the test. Our office dedicates a lot of time and effort to ensuring elections are conducted with integrity and accuracy within our county – we take a lot of pride in what we do.”