Portales, NM – The Roosevelt County Clerk’s Office invites any interested member of the public to come and view the tabulator certification process as they prepare for the upcoming General Election in November. This will begin at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022 and continue through Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, or until all 17 tabulators have been tested and certified. Certification will take place in the Roosevelt County Courthouse basement during normal business hours.
“We install the memory cards, making sure each card matches the machine serial number and place current election cycle signage on the tabulators, also matching the correct serial number to the correct location. We check the battery and set the date and time. Then we print a zeros tape, run a test deck of pre-marked ballots, check the Voter Assist Terminal (VAT), which is the printer that marks the ballot for a visually impaired voter, print a totals tape, and compare the results of that totals tape to the expected results. The ballots are pre-marked so that we can see a pattern,” noted Roosevelt County Clerk Mandi Park. “Some ballots are over voted, some are under voted, some contain votes for write-in candidates, so that we can be certain every possible outcome is recognized as it was voted.”
“We stop short of certification on four machines, so that we can use the results of those machines to hold a mock election to test further steps in the process, including reporting election night results to the Secretary of State’s Office and ultimately the media, the candidates and the public, ,” added Park. “This is a standard process we do before each election cycle and we want to ensure everyone receives the invitation to monitor the extensive process.
After participating in the mock election and verifying the election night processes are also working and troubleshooting any issues, personnel complete the certification process on those remaining four tabulators. The County Clerk’s Office will then clear the vote totals and seal the memory cards in the tabulator with numbered seals and complete the paperwork documentation process.
For more information, please contact the County Clerk’s Office at 575.356.8562 or mpark@rooseveltcounty.com.