Here’s how you can fight for election integrity when voting.
There’s a lot of concerns in voting today because of the increased technology that seems to be taking over the process. So, note the following steps you can take when you vote.
The Williamson County voting system contains three types of machines you’ll interact with when you vote. The registration system, the ballot marking device (BMD) and the scanner/tabulator.
- The registration check-in system is the first computer step to voting in an election.
- You’ll check in and show a photo ID and your voter card. The poll worker will fill out a registration card on you and what precinct you’re in to ensure you’ll get the right ballot.
- Be sure and check your precinct name and number on the paper. Then sign it.
- Then you’ll take the card to the voting cue line where you’ll mark your ballot using a ballot marking device.
- When it’s your turn to vote a worker will take your card and lead you to a ballot marking device (BMD) which will produce your paper ballot.
- The BMD uses a computer screen to show you all the candidate choices for various races.
- You touch the screen to make your choices.
- BE SURE AND REVIEW ALL OF YOUR BALLOT CHOICES before you print your ballot. And take your time to do so.
- Then print your paper ballot from a connected printer. This is your official ballot.
- Here’s a couple of photos of the ES&S ballot. The ballot is different than what we had before.
- Note the bar codes. Your ballot choices are encoded in those bar codes.
- Once your ballot is printed, review it again before going to the scanner. Make sure it reflects your choices! This is a key part of the voting process.
- Yes, this may take a minute, but don’t let anyone hurry you.
- If there’s a challenge in the election, this ballot will become critical to a re-count because it needs to reflect correctly your vote choices.
- If your ballot is not correct, immediately bring it to the attention of a poll worker so they can flag the machine and the mis-printing issue and you can try again to vote for the candidate you like using another machine and ballot.
- If your ballot is correct, take it to the scanner/tabulator to be scanned and counted.
- The scanner will suck in your ballot and tabulate your choices. This is when your vote is actually counted.
- The machine also tallies all choices in the election in that voting center and deposits the data on a thumb drive in the machine.
- When the polls have closed, that thumb drive is taken to the county election office to be combined with votes on other thumb drives from all other voting centers in the county.
Paying closer attention to what goes on in the voting process is now a key patriotic duty for all of us. And checking your ballot both before and after it is printed is a critical part of that. If you have any questions or need to report an anomaly, please contact us at [email protected].
Also visit my website, Tennessee Voters for Election Integrity, for additional information about the state of our elections and what you can do to help. Thank you for being an engaged citizen and informing yourself on how to protect the integrity of YOUR VOTE!
Frank Limpus