Rice County Voting Machines

Curious about Rice County's voting machines? I was. All of those scary stories about skewed election results from Florida in 2000 where endless debates on "chads" took place and from Ohio in 2004 where the uproar centered on hacking interference with touch screen voting machines had made me a little edgy. I wanted to know what was what in Rice County, so I asked Rice County Auditor-Treasurer, Fran Windschitl about the Rice County voting machines.

Rice County uses the Election Systems and Software Model 100 which is installed in every County precinct. The actual voting process is done manually. Voters mark the oval next to their candidate of choice. From the voter's hand, it goes through a scanner which checks for mismarks (e.g. four votes when asked for one) or ovals left blank.

There is also an electronic alternative which any voter may use, but is particularly helpful to voters with physical challenges. The Auto Mark is a glorified electronic pen or keypad. It has a headset function, a blow tube function and a touch screen function. Fran says few voters use the Auto Mark, but for those who do, it tells you how you voted and you are able to inspect your vote.

Once the ballots are scanned, the scanner tallies the votes and audits the precincts. There are random tests for scanner accuracy and any candidate is free to ask for a recount. If it is within a certain margin of error, the recount is free. If it is less, there is a fee for the recount. In the past, recounts have proven the first count to be 100% accurate.

I don't know if that eased your mind, but it helped me a lot. Of course, the main way to make your vote count for your chosen candidate is to get out and vote, and vote correctly. If you find yourself using the Auto Mark, make sure that you inspect your vote before you put it through the scanner