Public test of Mercer County voting machines for early voting and November election done

Greg Jordan, Bluefield Daily Telegraph, W.Va.
·2 min read

Oct. 22—PRINCETON — Voting machines that Mercer County's citizens will use during early voting and during the Nov. 8 general election were run Friday through a public test to make sure they're ready for service.

The public test syllabus was conducted to demonstrate the components and functionality of the Mercer County Electronic Voting system, and to insure and maintain voter confidence, according to a statement from the Mercer County Circuit Clerk's Office.

Deputy Clerk Kathy Lambert met Friday morning with Mercer County Commission President Gene Buckner and Commissioner Bill Archer at a warehouse where voting machines are stored near the Mercer County Courthouse.

Republican Ballot Commissioner Jane Miller and Democratic Ballot Commissioner Doris Irwin randomly selected machines from different voting precincts to test.

Lambert said the results were downloaded into cartridges that were then taken to the voter registration office at the courthouse to make sure the results could be tabulated. The test was successful. Buckner and Archer as well as the Republican and Democratic ballot commissioners signed off on the results.

Tests were then conducted at the courthouse for voting machines that will be used during early voting.

Miller and Irwin tested more voting machines that will be used at the early polls.

Like the ones being used during the general election, the machines were chosen at random from different precincts.

The results were tested on the election reporting manager (ERM) system at the voter registration office. The ERM machines are run before votes in submitted to make sure results from different precincts don't get mixed up, according to Debbie Brewster, a retired clerk's office employee who now helps with the testing.

"It's a pretty good system," Brewster said. "We've used it for years, and it's pretty good."

Early voting in West Virginia begins Oct. 26 and continues until Nov. 5.

Early voting polls will be at the Mercer County Courthouse, Convent Baptist Church on Athens Road, the Herb Simms Center at Stadium Drive in Bluefield, and Four Seasons Answering Service in Bluewell.

Early polls will be open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and on both Saturdays from 9 a.m. t 5 p.m.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com