Jun. 1—GRAND FORKS — North Dakota Secretary of State Michael Howe and his team on Friday helped conduct a public test of voting equipment being used for early voting for the June 11 primary.

All 53 counties across North Dakota will be conducting their tests before early voting begins next week. In Grand Forks, residents can begin in-person voting at the Alerus Center on June 4. Votes can be cast from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday, June 8, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Additionally, absentee ballots sent via mail have to be postmarked by June 10 to be counted in the election.

Grand Forks County Auditor Debbie Nelson, the chief election officer for the county, walked through the process that she and her team take to ensure the equipment used is accurate, safe and secure before ballots are cast. Friday’s test was only for the equipment being used for early voting. There will be another test in the coming days for the Election Day equipment.

The county has 37 different ballots and had 34 versions of each for a total of 1,258 test ballots being used for each machine. The test ballots don’t count toward any final tabulation, but help ensure the equipment works and is accurate.

“The premarked ballots come to us, we pick out four of them and replace one with red pen, one with blue pen and one with pencil, and we then we do an express vote, which is the ballot from the marking device people are allowed to use,” Nelson said. “When we test, we always turn them each way so that the results are accurate, like we expect.”

Erika White, elections director for the state, said that if a ballot is damaged so the machine can’t read it, they have remedies to ensure North Dakotans can still have their vote counted.

“You have a bipartisan board and they will recreate your ballot so they can scan it and they get saved with each other,” White said. “I’ve received ballots that the postal service has shredded, so there’s a process to make sure that all valid ballots that are returned are counted.”

Howe said it’s also important that people know what’s on the ballot to ensure that there are no issues with the ballot they receive.

“This has happened before I took office and may happen again this election: Someone says, ‘I didn’t see this candidate and I’m pretty sure I live in his district and wanted to vote for him.’ That voter was handed the wrong ballot,” Howe said. “In that rare instance where you’re handed the wrong ballot, you know what to look for.”

Sample ballots and election information can be found on the secretary of state’s website, vote.nd.gov. Grand Forks County and Grand Forks election information can be found on the county’s website

gfcounty.nd.gov/information/elections

or by contacting Nelson’s office at 701-780-8200. Nelson is also looking for election workers. More information about eligibility and applying can be found by contacting her office at 701-780-8200.