Auditor Jessica Alonge boots up voting machines ahead of their open-to-the-public test Monday, Oct. 17

JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Stutsman County Auditor Jessica Alonge and several other staff held an open-to-the-public demonstration of their voting machines ahead of the Nov. 8 general election Monday.

The public testing takes place before each election as part of North Dakota Century Code.

Alonge says the public testing helps them ensure the equipment is not only secure, but also in operating order before election day. She says they encourage members of the public to join them not only to see the process, but even assist them.

Stutsman County IT Director Josh Smaage says when they start, they boot up each machine, wipe it from the past election they were used for, and submit test ballots to ensure each one is working properly.

“These machines are locked up and not connected to the internet,” Smaage said. “This ensures there can be no tampering with the ballots or machines before, during, and after elections.”

Once the testing was complete, the machines were marked and tracked by staff. Alonge says when the machines are taken to election sites, they’ll ensure they are the same marks made by the staff as another level of security to each machine.

Testing took place at the Stutsman County Courthouse.