Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


As the August Primary approaches and misinformation still circulates around elections, Green Oak Township is all about transparency and recently showcased machines and test ballots for the public.

At a recent Board of Trustees meeting, Clerk Michael Sedlak conducted a public accuracy test of an electronic tabulator that will be used in the August 2nd primary election - offering the board and those in the audience an opportunity to see how the equipment works while learning about the process and security protocols.

Sedlak gave a detailed presentation during the test process and fed sample ballots into the machine, to demonstrate that it is accurate and can tell if someone “over” or “under” voted, among various other scenarios. The machines are not connected to the internet but do have modems that transmit results directly to Livingston County on election night. The results are also locked in until the next election.

Sedlak says this is around the time the tests for the tabulators typically would be done, which are generally done during the day. However, in light of all the scrutiny with elections this year, he says they decided to do the test at the board meeting with full exposure and full transparency to the public so there is a great deal of trust in what they do.

For the test, Sedlak told WHMI the results were exactly as expected, the trust level is there with the machine, and now the public can see that as well. He stressed that elections are secure and people’s votes do count – adding they even stopped giving out “I Voted” stickers on Election Day and now give out stickers that read “My Vote Counted”.

Sedlak says they have 24 tabulator machines for nine voting precincts and five absentee counting boards plus spares and they test every machine. It’s not the fastest process and takes anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes to get each machine set up for elections.

Sedlak also relayed during the meeting that they’ve been busy lately and have had a very strong response with absentee ballots - averaging around 100-200 per day as of last week.