Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 721 - Secretary of State › Division II - Elections › Chapter 22 - Voting Systems and Electronic Poll Books › Rule 721-22.9 - Testing the Equipment

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
The vendor shall provide to the examiners one, or more, if
				  deemed necessary by the examiners, production models of the equipment submitted
				  for certification. The equipment shall be prepared by the examiners with the
				  aid of the vendor to be tested at two sample elections: a sample partisan
				  primary election, and a sample general election.
(1) Test county for absentee voting. Voting
				equipment which is designed to be used for tabulation of absentee ballots shall
				be tested using a model county consisting of 155 precincts, with 180,000
				registered voters. The county shall include one U.S. congressional district,
				five state senate districts, 11 state house of representatives districts, and
				30 townships. Each township shall include both rural voters (who are eligible
				to vote for township officers) and city voters (who are not eligible to vote
				for township officers).
(2) Test
				county for absentee systems. Voting equipment which is designed to be used for
				tabulation of absentee ballots only shall be tested using a model county
				consisting of 15 5 precincts, with 180,000 registered voters. The county shall
				include one U.S. Congressional District, five state senate districts, 11 state
				house of representatives districts, and 30 townships. Each township shall
				include both rural voters (who are eligible to vote for township officers) and
				city voters (who are not eligible to vote for township officers).
(3) Test precinct for precinct count systems.
				The test precinct shall include both rural voters (who are eligible to vote for
				township officers) and city voters (who are not eligible to vote for township
				officers).
(4) All requirements for
				preparation and printing of test ballots shall be met in the preparation of
				ballots for the test elections including, but not limited to, rotation of
				candidates' names and the provision of space for write-in votes.
(5) Test ballots provided by vendor. The
				vendor shall provide the ballots to be used in the testing of the equipment. A
				total of at least 2000 ballots shall be printed for each of the two test
				elections. One thousand ballots for each test election shall be marked and
				manually tabulated by the vendor to use as a test of the ability to tabulate
				results accurately. The balance of the ballots shall be delivered to the
				examiners before the date set for the examination. The examiners shall mark and
				manually tabulate an additional set of at least 300 test ballots.
(6) Accessibility testing by other interested
				parties. Any party interested in the accessibility of voting equipment that is
				being considered for state certification may request to be included on notices
				of meetings of the board of examiners. Requests shall be sent to the examiners,
				in care of the Elections Division, Office of the Secretary of State, Lucas
				State Office Building, 321 E. 12th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50319. Any parties
				present at the meeting may complete accessibility testing on the equipment and
				submit a report on the accessibility of the voting system to the examiners
				within 30 days of the date of the examination and test. The report may be made
				in written or oral form. If an interested party would like to make an oral
				report, the examiners may hear the report either in person or by conference
				call organized by the elections division, whichever the examiners
				prefer.