Public Observation of Logic & Accuracy Testing

08 NCAC 04 .0307 TESTING OF VOTING SYSTEM BEFORE USE IN AN ELECTION

(a) The county board of elections shall test, or supervise the testing, of each voting system or unit that will be used in the election to ensure that the system is operational and has been programmed to count votes accurately. For the purpose of this Rule, "accurately" means in accordance with the procedures for Logic and Accuracy Testing as outlined in the North Carolina State Topical Elections Processes and Procedures (STEPPS) manual.

There shall be a record maintained along with the voted and unvoted ballots at the county board of elections office that shall include, at a minimum, the following information:

(1) the dates, times and method of testing used;

(2) the results of the test; and

(3) the names of the persons conducting the test.

(b) Any interested person may observe the testing of the voting system but shall not interfere with or impede the process. For the purpose of testing a voting system prior to the purchase or lease of the system, testing at a one-stop absentee voting site shall fulfill the requirement to test the voting system in a precinct within the county.

OUR EXPERIENCE IN NC COUNTIES in 2020

Wake County

A Transparent Elections NC volunteer spent weeks trying to find out when the testing would take place and attended two hours of testing on the morning of August 28th. The handful of people in attendance were not allowed to get close enough to the machines to see or hear anything and were not allowed to take photos or video. The Election Director would not answer any questions and would not allow questions to be directed to staff. Due to the lack of meaningful access, our volunteers did not return for further testing.

Guilford County

We reached out to the Election Director multiple times and were told that we could observe the testing and that we would be contacted about the date/time that the testing would take place. We were never notified and therefore were unable to observe testing.

Durham County

We left a message for the Election Director and Deputy Director, but were never notified of when the testing would take place.

Starting in September 2020, most North Carolina county Boards of Elections began conducting Logic & Accuracy testing of all election machines that will be used in the November 2020 election. Scanners/Tabulators count votes from hand-marked paper ballots and machine-marked ballots. In counties that don’t use hand-marked paper ballots, the machines that mark the ballots are also tested.

These important tests help confirm that the equipment is functional. Logic and accuracy tests look at things like whether or not the scanners are picking up all the votes and counting correctly and if ballot marking devices are marking the ballot summary cards to reflect what a voter has chosen on the computer screen. These tests do not tell us how the equipment will function on election day, just that they are functioning correctly during testing.

Improved transparency of testing would give voters confidence that the machines used to count our votes do not have rudimentary errors.

If you want to attend the L&A testing in any NC county, you will need to call the county's Election Director to find out the date/time. Most counties do not post the information online, so not many people even know these publicly observable tests are happening. If you are able to find out the date/time please let Transparent Elections NC know so we can share the information.

We have been unable to obtain the North Carolina State Topical Elections Processes and Procedures (STEPPS) manual that outlines the requirements for NC L&A testing. If anyone is able to obtain a digital copy of the STEPPS manual, please share it with us.

Hope you will all get involved in observing these very important tests. Please reach out and tell us about your experience.