With the primary election now less than a month away, Collier County officials are working to ensure that all voting machines are prepared to accurately count votes.
Today, the canvassing board held its first meeting for the 2024 primary election at the Supervisor of Elections office in East Naples.
The focus of today's voting machine testing was on transparency and accuracy. Melissa Blazier, the Collier County supervisor of elections, emphasized the importance of the testing process.
“We know citizens are concerned about whether their ballot is read correctly,” Blazier said. “We need to make sure that every vote, whether under-voted, over-voted, or skipped, is tabulated correctly.”
The testing involved scanning ballots and comparing the results to predetermined selections to verify machine performance. Today, only one tabulator failed to start and will be replaced. While diagnostics will be conducted, this machine will not be used in the election.
Canvassing board meetings are open to the public. Members of the League of Women Voters of Collier County, along with other local residents, observed the testing.
Diane Preston Moore, the president of the League of Women Voters of Collier County, highlighted the significance of the tests: “There is nothing larger in our democracy than voting. And the supervisor of elections office and the logic and accuracy testing of the equipment is core to the voting process here.”
Michael Lyster, a Naples resident, added, “I tell people who have questions about elections, if you've not gone through poll worker training and worked on a poll or come to a canvassing board meeting and watched them conducted and see that they do it exactly by Florida statute, then you really don't have a right to complain. It's kind of like those people that don't vote and then complain about the government.”
The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot is Aug. 8 at 5 p.m.