Public test of election equipment nets audience of 2, ahead of Oakland primary

Whether or not they believe Donald Trump, Americans have been flooded since 2020 with talk of election fraud.

Yet, just two people attended Wednesday’s official “public accuracy test” of voting equipment, held in Pontiac at the office of the Oakland County Elections Division.

“Anyone is welcome to watch,” Oakland County Clerk and Register of Deeds Lisa Brown said, as tabulators counted dozens of ballots per minute, election staff checked computers, and hard drives sported external locks to prevent tampering.

Across Michigan and the nation, county and local clerks are checking equipment ahead of the primary election on Aug. 8. The primary in Oakland County concerns only voters in Southfield, where four candidates for clerk are seeking two spots on the November ballot; and other voters in Berkley, Clawson and Novi deciding school-funding questions.

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In clerk's offices nationwide, there more emphasis than ever on counting absentee ballots. Their use had grown for years but soared during the pandemic. Handling that fresh glut of paperwork had threatened to overwhelm local clerks, so Oakland and other counties began offering to count absentee ballots for any community wanting help.

Oakland County’s automated tabulators and low cost made the deal attractive, and in the 2022 election “we were the biggest absentee counting board in Michigan, even bigger than Detroit,” Brown said. Everybody wins, with faster and more efficient centralized count using the county's high-speed tabulators, she said.

"Quite frankly, we do a great job," Brown said with a laugh. "We have those absentee results up by 8:05 p.m. on election day," after which poll workers begin tallying the results that voters cast in person, she said. Oakland County planned to count the absentee ballots for 20 communities, Brown added, after checking with her staff.

One visitor who watched Wednesday's test was Eileen Harryvan, the clerk of Southfield Township, a voting area of about 15,000 residents in the villages of Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms and Franklin.

"We do our own test, but I've been curious to see how they did it here," Harryvan said. "We would be lost without all these people. Oakland County does a great job," Harryvan said.

Nodding in thanks was Joe Rozell, Oakland County's director of elections. Rozell said, in contrast to rumors and the ex-president's claims, elections have gotten more accurate, not less. "The technology that we use today is far superior to the technology we had even 10 years ago, and the checks and balances that we use now are more robust," he said.

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Here's a summary of the August primary election choices in Oakland County:

Berkley schools

The school district wants voters to approve a bond sale not to exceed $88 million, "for the purpose of erecting, furnishing and equipping a new indoor practice/robotics team building; erecting, furnishing and equipping additions to school buildings; remodeling, furnishing and refurnishing and equipping and re-equipping school buildings; acquiring, installing, equipping and re-equipping school buildings for instructional technology; and preparing, developing, improving and equipping playgrounds, athletic fields and facilities and sites."

Clawson schools

The school district wants voters to approve a bond sale not to exceed $25.5 million, to pay for improving school sites such as "the Baker and Schalm buildings, including demolition of buildings, foundations, parking lot paving and concrete walkways as well as removal of site utilities; constructing, remodeling, equipping and re-equipping the current Central Campus facility (and remodeling/re-equipping) the Early Childhood Center."

Novi schools

The school district wants voters to approve an operating millage for 11 years to "allow the school district to levy the number of mills required to be levied to enable the school district to receive its revenue per pupil foundation allowance" from the state. It also wants voters to renew the school district's operating millage for public recreation and playgrounds."

Contact Bill Laytner: blaitner@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Oakland County tests election gear, says system most accurate ever