HELENA — Election Day is almost here, and staff from the Lewis & Clark Country Elections Office are gearing up for busy days counting ballots for the general election this year.
"We've got a really good turnout. We're having a lot of people come in and vote that haven't voted before," said Amy Reeves, Clerk and Recorder/Treasurer for the Lewis & Clark Elections Office.
According to the Lewis & Clark County Elections Office, they expect a spike in active voters participating in this year's general election.
With tens of thousands of ballots cast in the county, they'll turn to their ballot tabulators for assistance.
Tabulators provide a way for election officials to count voter selections from paper ballots quickly and accurately.
It's a machine that the election office takes care of year-round, and one that they say you can trust come election day.
"I think the more they understand. The more they'll have faith in the machines. It's just like a calculator or a cash register. We start out with a zero total so that we can make sure that our totals that we're tallying up equal what needs to be counted. I'm very much in mathematics, so I like to make sure that everything is accurate," said Reeves.
The tabulator has three sections to the machine.
The bottom tray holds the accepted ballots, the ones easiest to count.
The middle tray acts as a write-in section, which can be seen more in general elections than any other, which will then be sent to a write-in board to verify the candidate.
Lastly, the top tray, which are ballots that the machine cannot read. It could be blank, over-voted, or stray marks around the ballot. In that case, it will be sent to a resolution board to verify the ballot.
"When we're counting Monday and the beginning of Tuesday. What you're seeing. Is the number of ballots that have ran through or sheets of paper that have ran through the tabulator. You're not seeing. You know, the vote," said Reeves.
The tabulator's information is accurate and secure, keeping all it within the county building.
"Are the machines hooked up to the internet, WI-Fi, Bluetooth, or something of that sort? Per state law, they cannot be. And my machines don't have the ability to be, nor do we have the access for them to be," said Reeves.
Even with the elections office all hands on deck, using the tabulators and accurately counting each vote, they ask the public for patience come Election Day.
"We will be running until we stop," said Reeves, "We have had past presidential elections, or federal elections, last until two one in the afternoon on Wednesday or five in the afternoon on Wednesday, and we are here nonstop."
