You fill in the ovals, feed the ballot into the tabulator and see that it has been accepted. Somewhere between that moment and the results reported on election night, a machine does the counting.
How do we know it counted correctly? Minnesota does not rely on the machine alone. The system keeps the paper ballot, restricts the tabulator’s connections, tests the equipment against known results before voting and checks selected results by hand afterward.
The vote stays on paper
In Minnesota, every ballot is cast on paper. Voters who use accessible ballot-marking equipment also produce a paper ballot. State law requires voting systems to create a permanent paper ballot and preserve it as the official record.
The tabulator reads and counts that ballot, but the ballot remains in secured custody. That gives election officials a physical record independent of the electronic total. After every state general election, Minnesota conducts a post-election review in which paper ballots from randomly selected precincts are counted by hand and compared with the voting-system results.
The tabulator stays off outside networks
Minnesota law also limits what voting equipment can connect to. Except for wired connections within the polling place, ballot-recording and tabulating systems may not be connected directly or indirectly to an electronic network, including the internet. Wireless communication and modem connections are prohibited.
After polls close, the head election judge must first create a printed record of the precinct’s results. Only then may accumulated totals be transmitted electronically to a central reporting location. Those transmitted results remain unofficial until the canvassing process is complete.
Before voting, test the machine
At least three days before voting equipment is used, Minnesota requires a public accuracy test. Officials run pre-marked test ballots through the equipment and compare the machine’s totals with results they already know should appear.
Jory, Administrative Services Director for Crow Wing County, describes the check this way:
“So for a public testing, when a preliminary test deck is created, it is entered into the tabulator. And then as the test deck is completed, those results are printed out. The election judges for that precinct bring their election results for that preliminary testing over to two other election judges from the two major political parties that verify those results—that the tabulator counted each vote how it was supposed to.”
— Jory, Administrative Services Director for Crow Wing County
The test also includes ballots with too many votes in a contest to confirm the system handles overvotes correctly. If an error appears, officials must identify and correct the cause and produce an errorless count before the equipment can be used.
The test is open to political parties, candidates, the press and the public, and at least two election judges who are not from the same major political party must observe it. Public notice of the test is required in advance.
The process is straightforward. Paper preserves the vote. Network restrictions limit outside connections. Public testing checks the equipment before ballots are cast. Post-election hand counts compare selected machine totals with the paper afterward.
Want to see the testing yourself? Contact your local election office for the next public accuracy test, or visit the Minnesota Secretary of State to learn more.