An important part of any election process is insuring that all votes are counted and no false votes have been cast. To that end, the Carter County Election Commission will open voting machines for inspection on Friday, July 15 at 8 a.m., one hour before early voting is scheduled to begin for the upcoming August 4 election.
State law provides that each election commission make all the voting machines available for inspection by the county executive committees of the political parties, independent candidates, members of the media and the general public to verify that the voting machines are properly set up, are in accurate working order and no votes have been cast on them in advance of the election, Carter County Administrator of Elections Tracy Harris said.
After the machines are inspected, the procedure varies depending on whether the machines are to be used for early voting or election day polls.
Once the machines being checked on the morning of July 15 are inspected and the tallies show at zero, they will be set up for early voting to begin at 9 a.m. at the Election Commission Office. In August the machines which will go to the various precincts throughout the county will be inspected in the same manner before election day. Once those inspections are complete, Harris said the machines will be sealed with numbered tags as a means of detecting any tampering which might occur.
When a machine is sealed after inspection, one representative from each of the major parties must be present to ensure the seals are intact. The numbers for each tag are registered to the machine number so when the voting machine is opened on election day, election officials can match those numbers to ensure the machine has not been reopened.
Under state law, after the machines have been examined, the party representatives and either the Election Commission or the voting machine technician shall make a certificate in writing which shall be filed in the county election commission office stating the number of machines, whether all of the machines are set at zero (000), the number registered on each protective counter and the number on each seal with which the machines are sealed.
If you have any questions concerning this inspection or the ballots, please call our office at 542-1822 or email: elections@cartercounty.tn