County prepares for Presidential Preference Election

FLORENCE- Preparing for an election is a task akin to organizing a military operation.

Finding poll workers, training the poll workers, finding acceptable polling locations, making sure the ballots are printed just right and making sure the voting equipment works correctly.

All that is missing are the tanks and heavy artillery.

One of the steps to ensuring the election goes as planned is to make sure each vote is counted and counted correctly. With this in mind, it is the job of representatives of the Secretary of State’s Office to verify that each county’s voting equipment is working as it should.

Before each election, staffers from the Secretary of State’s Office make the trip to Pinal County to perform what is called a “Logic and Accuracy Test” on the ballot counting equipment.

The Logic and Accuracy Test involves checking the scanning equipment that will be out in the polling places by running a mock election. The staffers will insert pre-voted ballots into the machines and then check the results. If the results match what was actually voted, then the machines are certified by the Secretary of State’s staff.

On Thursday, Pinal County passed with flying colors once again.

“It went perfectly,” Elections Director Gilbert Hoyos said. “This test took 45 minutes to complete. The Presidential Preference Primary is a small election in many aspects since there is no rotation on the ballot.”

Hoyos said each precinct’s machine processes 50 ballots from the visiting staffers.

“It’s an open process,” Hoyos said. “We have representatives witness the test from both the Republican and Democratic parties.”

Arizona will hold its Presidential Preference Primary on “Super Tuesday,” Feb. 5. A list of polling location is available at the Pinal County Web site at http://co.pinal.az.us/elections or call (520) 866-7550 for information.

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