CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — One month out from Election Day and days away from early voting, Cuyahoga County election officials invited the media to be present during final tests on the machines that count your votes.
Security is tight — especially in the tabulation room at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. Only select employees have card access, and it takes a Republican and a Democrat swiping their cards at the same time to enter. The computer inside is not connected to the internet to prevent hacking, and it's surrounded by cameras, alarms, and ballistic film on the windows.
Board of Elections Director Tony Perlatti says the secretary of state's office provides USBs that election workers will use to transfer election results from the tabulation computer to another computer connected to the internet. Those memory sticks will then be placed in a safe, and Perlatti told the press they expect to go through a couple dozen USBs during this election.
The machines that scan your ballot go through county, state, and federal testing. Cuyahoga has been using scanners for years, but this year, officials are getting more questions about why workers don't hand count ballots. Perlatti said it has to do with time and accuracy.
"If we had to hand count everything, we would be giving you results probably just in time for Christmas," he explained, "and that would be the unofficial results."
For context, the county has 967 precincts, each with a unique, three-page ballot. Altogether, there are 55 issues and 92 candidates across the county on the ballots this November.
For comparison, Perlatti says it took two workers four hours to count 152 ballot pages. In the same time, a machine called a tabulator counted 12,000 pages. According to Perlatti, the machines have proven to be more accurate than humans.
"We're under a bigger microscope," he said. "It's always a lot of pressure because it's one of those things where your tolerance for errors is zero. You have to be 100% spot on all the time."
Cuyahoga County Board has a 99.9% accuracy rate over a 10-year period, according the BOE.
The deadline to register in the upcoming election is the morning of Monday, Oct. 7. Early voting begins the next day on Tuesday, and continues until the Sunday before Election Day. Perlatti says they expect around 2,000 voters each day during early voting. Those voting by mail can also expect to see their ballots delivered beginning Oct. 8.
Since it's a presidential election, Perlatti and others expect to see at least double the turnout they typically see. That would put total voter turnout at more than 70%, with an estimated 650,000 voters participating.
There are many voters who only participate in presidential elections, and they'll notice some changes since 2020. For instance:
- You'll need photo ID when you vote in person.
- Early voting ends the Sunday before Election Day, instead of the Monday before.
- Your polling location also may have changed, so check before you go.