With the local elections behind us and the US Senate runoffs still four weeks away, there is an afternoon meeting of the Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections: it is a 4 o’clock virtual session, one that will stream live on the Athens-Clarke County government’s YouTube channel.

Athens-Clarke County Elections Officials are again testing the voting machines that will be used in the Senate and Public Service Commission runoffs that are today four weeks away: testing is taking place at the Athens-Clarke County Facilities and Landscape Management Building on Lexington Road in Athens.

From the Athens-Clarke Co government website…

The public is invited to view the logic and accuracy testing. In order to support social distancing requirements during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, two people can observe at a time in 30-minute time slots.

The State of Georgia requires Logic and Accuracy Testing through specific procedures prior to every election. As part of the process, staff with the Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections run tests on the new paper-based voting units, the check-in system, and the optical scan system for recording absentee ballots.

The first part of the process involves receiving the secure election database from the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office for the upcoming election. The system uses this database to create memory cards for the voting equipment, program the voting equipment, and produce ballots and reports.

Once the memory cards are created for the voting system, the logic and accuracy procedures test the proper creation of the voter access cards, display of the ballot on the screen, printing of the paper ballot, scanning of the paper ballot, vote collection, and tabulation results. During the process, units are calibrated, physically inspected, and recorded.

All races, headers, race titles, candidates, and placement order of candidates are visually checked on the touch-screen units. Testing is performed using voter access cards. Ballots are also checked to confirm proper audio and magnification assistance features.

After a machine is tested and proven accurate, it is sealed and stored in a secure building until election day. Access to this building is tightly controlled. The Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections follows all state laws contained in the Official Code of Georgia and State Election Board rules concerning the testing and storing of voting equipment.

The voter registration deadline for the January 5, 2021 General Election Runoff is December 7, 2020. Early voting will begin on Monday, December 14, 2020. Absentee ballots can be requested through mail, fax, or email. Details are available at www.accgov.com/elections. In Athens-Clarke County, voters will vote on January 5, 2021 for two U.S. Senate seats as well as Georgia Public Service Commissioner.

Cox Media Group