How Wisconsin tests its voting machines to ensure election accuracy

Wisconsin is holding congressional and state primary elections this Tuesday. They’re seen by some as a dry run for November when the battleground state will play a crucial role in deciding the next president. Election officials have been increasingly transparent about voting mechanics to help boost confidence for the state’s 3.5 million registered voters. William Brangham reports.

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Geoff Bennett: Wisconsin is holding congressional and state primary elections this Tuesday. They’re seen by some as a critical dry run for November, when the battleground state will play a crucial role in deciding the next president.

And, as William Brangham reports, election officials have been increasingly transparent about the mechanics of voting to help boost confidence.

William Brangham: In McFarland, Wisconsin, a small village just outside the state capital, Madison, they’re stress-testing the tools of democracy.

Deputy administrator clerk Cassandra Suettinger is checking their four ballot counting machines.

Cassandra Suettinger, Deputy Administrator, McFarland, Wisconsin: We put them right side up. We put them backwards. We put them upside down, proving to people that you can put the ballots in any way, shape, or form, and it will still read the results it’s supposed to.

William Brangham: The state requires this test within the 10 days before every election to ensure the systems are running correctly and counting ballots accurately.

Officials scan pre-marked ballots through the tabulators and compare the machine count to the expected result. A perfect count is required before any machine can be used on Election Day. In her eight years as clerk, Suettinger says she has never had one problem with the machines.

After the test, the counts are reset to zero, the tabulators are sealed, and they’re locked in a secure room.

Cassandra Suettinger: Our elections return was an old evidence room, so there’s four cameras at each end of the corners.

William Brangham: State law and the Wisconsin Elections Commission also require these tests to be open to the public, so citizens can understand the security protocols that are in place.

Suettinger says she’s alarmed by the threats made towards election workers in recent years, but hopes this transparency will increase trust in the system.

Cassandra Suettinger: There is nothing to hide. The public has the ability to watch all parts of the process. The statutes outline in the various parts of our process the ability for observers. And I think that’s really important. It’s really important for people to know that there’s transparency and they can watch any of the various processes and nothing is done in secret.

We’re here to do our job. We’re here to uphold democracy and we’re here to carry out the laws.

William Brangham: Elections in Wisconsin are decentralized, run by more than 1,800 different clerks in their local jurisdictions, which cuts the chance for any widespread fraud.

But that hasn’t stopped a plague of accusations and misinformation. After the 2020 presidential election, where Joe Biden won Wisconsin by roughly 21,000 votes, Republicans in the state claimed the process was rigged and launched a slew of recounts, audits, investigations and lawsuits.

The Republican-controlled legislature last year also tried unsuccessfully to oust the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. But each of the post-election reviews found that the 2020 results were fair and accurate.

This cycle in Verona, Wisconsin, during early voting in Tuesday’s state and local primary, a steady stream of the city’s 9,500 registered voters used ballot drop boxes. Those were approved by the state Supreme Court last month.

Holly Licht, Verona City Clerk, Wisconsin: They are open 24 hours a day, second days a week. They do have security cameras on them and they’re very secure.

William Brangham: Inside City Hall, clerk Holly Licht and her team conducted their state-mandated tests of the city’s eight vote tabulators. They prepared a stack of test ballots that are designed to pressure the machines.

Holly Licht: We purposely make some mistakes on the ballots, like over-voting or cross-voting, so that we know that the machine is working correctly.

William Brangham: The real test, of course, comes on Election Day, but Licht is confident the results will once again be accurate.

After Tuesday’s primary, the work starts almost immediately to prepare for November’s presidential election.

Holly Licht: This is a good practice round for us. We’re hopping right back into another election and we’re preparing ballots and training and everything for November. There’s not a lot of time off here.

William Brangham: Wisconsin clerks will start sending absentee ballots for the presidential election next month.

For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m William Brangham.