Home Breaking News Johnson County’s election equipment ready to go after public test

Johnson County’s election equipment ready to go after public test

September 18, 2024

Johnson County’s election equipment is ready for the presidential election, election officials said Wednesday.

Election officials and a representative from MicroVote, the county’s election equipment vendor, held a public test of voting equipment during a Johnson County Election Board meeting at the courthouse. For the test, officials set up 16 voting machines with attached voter-verified paper audit trail systems, or VVPATs, and an absentee ballot reader.

For the test, McLaughlin, Democratic election board member Kevin Service, Republican election board member Doug Lechner and Chief Deputy Clerk Nanci Wildman cast sample ballots on an equal number of machines to make sure there were no errors.

The test was advertised and the public was welcome to attend, but no one did.

All of the equipment passed the tests, said Trena McLaughlin, county clerk. The roughly 2.5-hour test mostly went off without any issues, though human error did lead to some revotes. Ultimately, everything turned out as it should have.

Ballots from at least one precinct in each township were used in the test. It took each tester about five minutes or less to submit a ballot, which is about how long it should take someone to vote once they reach the booth during early voting or on Election Day.

The 16 machines represent a portion of the 307 machines, excluding backups, that will be used for the upcoming election. Of the 16 voting machines tested Wednesday, 10 are assigned for use on Election Day, Nov. 5. The remaining machines are assigned to be used at early voting centers.

To test each machine, members of the election board and staff cast ballots on the machine and then marked on a paper sample ballot what they voted. Once all the machines are tested, officials went over the VVPAT receipts and compared them with what was marked on the paper sample ballots to ensure that the votes are accurately counted. VVPATs are designed to show voters how they voted on paper before sending in their vote on the machine, essentially a voter’s “double-check” to make sure their vote is counted accurately.

Four machines were voted on twice with different selections by a board member. The test also included selections for write-in candidates, which will have to be filled in by voters when they cast a ballot. Write-in entries don’t have to have the candidate’s name spelled perfectly, but entries must be close to count for that candidate, McLaughlin said.

With the public test complete, results from it will be sent to the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office for certification.

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In other election business, election officials are set to begin mailing out absentee ballots this weekend for voters who have already applied and been approved. About 2,000 ballots are set to go out so far, McLaughlin said.

Voters can still apply for mail-in absentee ballots as the deadline is 11:59 p.m. Oct. 7. They can apply online at indianavoters.in.gov or in-person at Johnson County Voter Registration.

Looking ahead, voters going to polls for early voting and Election Day should be aware that while they can vote straight ticket, some ballot options do not allow for it. For Johnson County Council at-large, voters will have to select three candidates as straight-ticket doesn’t apply when there’s an office with more than one candidate from any party on the ballot. School board votes, public questions and judicial retention questions also have to be filled out individually for a vote to be recorded.

Voter registration is continuing until the second week of October. The deadline to register to vote in this year’s general election, or to update a voter’s registration, is Oct. 7. Prospective voters can register online at indianavoters.in.gov by 11:59 p.m. Oct. 7, or in person at Johnson County Voter Registration, located in the basement of the Johnson County Courthouse, 5 E. Jefferson St., Franklin, by the end of business at 4:30 p.m.

Residents can also register to vote at any license branch but should check with the voter registration office to make sure their application went through before the deadline.

In-person early voting is set to begin Oct. 8. The Johnson County Courthouse will be open for voting starting that week, with six other vote centers scattered throughout the county — the Franklin Parks and Recreation Center, the John R. Drybread Community Center, and the Clark Pleasant, White River, Trafalgar and Greenwood libraries — open the two weeks leading up to Election Day.

Three retirement community satellite vote centers, located at Greenwood Village South, Otterbein SeniorLife and Compass Park, will be open for four hours on three separate days.

Twenty-two vote centers will be open at 19 locations on Nov. 5 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Three locations — Mt. Pleasant Christian Church, Grace Assembly of God and Scott Hall at the Johnson County Fairgrounds — will feature two vote centers at the same location, similar to the primary.

Offices up for election this fall in Johnson County include federal, state, county, municipal and school board. Contested races include U.S. President and Vice President, U.S. senator, U.S. House of Representatives, Indiana governor, attorney general, Indiana Senate Districts 32, 36 and 37, House Districts 47, 58 and 60, Johnson County Council at-large, county commissioner District 3, Superior Court 1 judge, Center Grove school board at-large, Franklin school board’s city of Franklin and Franklin Township seats, Greenwood School Board District 3 and Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson school board’s Nineveh Township and at-large seats.

There is also a constitutional amendment on the ballot, asking to remove the former state superintendent of public instruction position from the line of succession for governor. Additionally, voters will be asked whether five state appellate court judges — two Supreme Court and three Court of Appeals — should be retained.

WHERE TO VOTE EARLY

Here is a look at when and where you can cast your ballot early. Early voting runs from Oct. 8 to Nov. 4:

Johnson County Courthouse, 5 E. Jefferson St., Franklin

» 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 8-11; Oct. 14-18; Oct. 21-25; Oct. 28-Nov. 1