Voting Equipment

Minnesota voters always cast their vote on paper ballots, but special equipment is often used to count ballots, mark ballots, sign in, and register voters. Benton County uses equipment made by Election Systems & Software (ES&S), KNOWiNK, and Democracy Live.

BALLOT TABULATORS:

All ballot tabulators used in Minnesota are optical scan, so they “read” the ballot and record a vote for each candidate that has their target (usually an oval) filled in on the ballot. Benton County currently uses the ES&S DS200 to tabulate ballots at the polling place on election day. The ES&S DS450 is used at the Auditor-Treasurer's office to tabulate absentee and mail ballots. This equipment does not contain a modem and is never connected to the internet.

ELECTION SYSTEMS AND SOFTWARE (ES&S DS200):

ELECTION SYSTEMS AND SOFTWARE (ES&S DS450):

ELECTRONIC POLLBOOKS:

KNOWink Poll Pads are used on election day to both check-in registered voters and register non-registered voters at their polling location.

KNOWiNK Poll Pad

ASSISTIVE VOTING EQUIPMENT :

With a few exceptions, federal law requires that all polling places must have equipment which allows private and independent voting for voters with disabilities. Assistive voting devices fulfill this role. They are separate pieces of equipment from the tabulators, and do not tally votes but merely help a voter mark an optical scan ballot. This equipment is connected to a printer and produces a full-size paper ballot. This equipment is never connected to the internet.

DEMOCRACY LIVE OMNIBALLOT TABLET

EQUIPMENT TESTING

Benton County Election Administrators use a number of procedures to ensure equipment will accurately record valid votes. Equipment is approved by the state, tested locally before elections, and the results audited after elections.

EQUIPMENT CERTIFICATION

Before being certified for use in Minnesota, all voting equipment must be tested and certified by test labs accredited by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and undergo detailed additional testing by the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State.

PRE-ELECTION TESTING

Before every election, local election officials test all equipment to be used in that election. For the preliminary testing, ballots are marked with assistive voting devices, a set of pre-marked ballots is fed into the ballot tabulators, and the machine's totals are compared with the pre-determined results. The Voting Equipment is also tested at a Public Accuracy Test which occurs election. Public Accuracy Tests are open to the public.