Monday, Brown County election officials carried out this test for Brown County and confirmed the equipment was in working order.

“The point of today is to test all voting machines for public accuracy,” said Brown County Auditor-Treasurer Kelly Hotovec.

The county has nine electronic voting tabulators spread across 13 polling locations. Nearly every precinct has an electronic voting tabulator. Eden, Linden, North Star and Burnstown Townships do not have an electronic tabulator. All ballots at these precincts are collected in ballot boxes brought to the Brown County Courthouse and run through the central county machine after the polls close on election night.

The PAT conducted by the county starts with each tabulating machine running a “zero total report.”

New Ulm Election Officer Kim Samuelson runs test ballots through a ballot counter as part of the Public Accuracy Test (PAT).

New Ulm Election Officer Kim Samuelson said the machine should have zero count before the test is run. If the machine prints off a report with any number other than zero, that could mean the machine was not working properly, recording votes before any ballots are run. Fortunately, the first report came up with zeros.

The next step is to run test ballots through the machine.

“We have a test deck and we already know the numbers for the test deck,” Hotovec said. “We will run the test deck through the machine to make sure the machine is tabulating the count correctly.”

Some of the ballots in the test deck have been marked differently to determine if the machine can catch problems.

Brown County election specialist Jessica Grausam said some ballots were filled out with red ink or pencil to see if the machine could still detect the markings. Other ballots in the test deck have incorrect timing marks. If the timing marks do not match up, this could mean a fake ballot was inserted or the ballot was marked wrong. If the machine is running correctly, it rejects the ballot with incorrect timing marks.

Election judge and ballot board member Dianne Melzer conducts a test of the Assistive Voting Device (AVD) equipment. The AVDs help voters fill out ballots using audio and electronic displays. A person who is visually impaired or has trouble hearing can use AVDs to assist them in marking their ballots correctly. The devices are available at all precincts on election day.

The first test ballot Samuelson ran through a voting machine was rejected because of a timing mark error. This ballot was set aside.

Staff also test the machines to ensure they can read the ballot whether inserted frontwards or backward, bottom or top first.

Once each vote counter has run through its test deck, a flash drive recording the data in each machine is taken and uploaded to the Secretary of State website as another test simulating election night vote processing.

In addition to testing the ballot counting machines, the county must test all assistive voting devices (AVDs). Hotovec said not as many people are aware of the AVDs, but these devices are available at every precinct. The AVDs help voters using audio and electronic displays to fill out ballots.

A person who is visually impaired or has trouble hearing can use AVDs to assist them in marking their ballots correctly. The screen on the AVD can enlarge the ballot text or change the font. The AVDs have a set of headphones to provide audio assistance as well.

Hotovec said they encourage any voter who needs assistance to use the AVD. A voter does not need to have a disability to use the equipment. One of the benefits of the AVD is it prevents anyone from over voting. The device prevents a person from voting for too many candidates. If it is an election for a single office, the device will only mark a single candidate. If it is a school board election and the voter is asked to vote for four candidates, it will not allow voting for a fifth candidate.

The PAT was conducted Monday to follow state statutes. By law, the PAT must be conducted three days before the direct ballot begins. In Brown County, direct balloting begins Friday, Oct. 18. Absentee voters may visit the courthouse, vote and place their ballot directly into a tabulator.

In previous elections, direct voting began seven days before the election, but in 2023 legislators voted to expand it to 18 days before the election.

Hotovec said Thursday, Oct. 17 is the last day for an early voter to request a “clawback.” Minnesota voters who early voted through the mail or absentee ballot, but changed their mind on the candidate can request a new ballot and re-vote. The original ballot will be spoiled to prevent two votes. The cut-off for a clawback request is Oct. 17 because direct balloting begins the next day.

The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 5