The Town of Spring Prairie announced on March 29 that a new public test for voting equipment will be held on April 4 at 11 a.m. at the Town Hall. This follows an issue discovered during the previous test conducted on March 28, where the ballot test deck was not marked properly.
Public tests of voting equipment are important to ensure that tabulators count votes accurately before elections take place. The recent discrepancy was not due to a malfunction in the tabulator itself but rather because the ballots used in the test were not marked according to the official spreadsheet, which is used as a reference during testing.
Officials confirmed that “the voting tabulator calculated the votes correctly according to the ballots submitted, however the ballots were not marked according to the test spreadsheet, thereby causing a discrepancy.” Because of this error, officials determined that another public test is necessary.
The new public testing session will give residents and interested parties another opportunity to observe and verify that all election equipment functions as intended ahead of any upcoming elections. The event will take place at Town Hall and is open for public observation.
By repeating this process, town officials aim to maintain transparency and uphold trust in local election procedures.
