This week, local election officials around Wisconsin will hold public stress testing of voting machines.
It's a longstanding practice under state law, but administrators say it might resonate more in today's political environment.
According to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, all municipalities must conduct a public test of their electronic voting equipment within ten days of each election.
Algoma City Clerk Erin Mueller said they're holding their viewing Tuesday morning this week. She described it as a pretty detailed run-through.
"We will take the voting machine out of the vault," said Mueller, "and we will go through the whole process of putting the cartridges in the places where they're supposed to go, adding the safety seals, recording the safety seals, and then putting the test ballots in the machine to ensure accuracy."
In a recent Gallup poll, 57% of Americans say they're confident votes for president this year will be accurately counted.
However, partisan gaps have widened, with faith in accuracy waning among Republican respondents.
In a battleground state like Wisconsin, Mueller said these tests are important, so administrators can show how consistent they are in overseeing elections.
Between work, family needs, and daily tasks, it might be hard for many Wisconsinites to attend a public testing.
Mueller said curious residents also are invited to watch the process unfold on election night as observers. As for the pre-election tests, she said they're a good training opportunity, too.
"I have my poll workers put a blank ballot through so they can see what happens, you know, with the machine," said Mueller. "I have them put a ballot that, somebody maybe happened to overvote in a certain selection, so they can see how the machine is going to react to that."
If something abnormal pops up during testing, state law requires local clerks to remedy the situation before voters can use that machine on Election Day.
Administrators around the country have said they're relying on aging voting equipment, with calls to boost federal funding for that type of infrastructure.
Mueller said her team is lucky because their machines were recently upgraded.
Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
