How Wisconsin safeguards your vote: Understanding the poll book and election security

RACINE, WI – With the election approaching, how votes are counted – and how officials ensure election security — may be at the forefront of local voters’ minds.

On Election Day, which is Nov. 4, all ballots in Wisconsin will be counted. Election officials use “meticulously maintained poll books” to track who voted, according to https://myvote.wi.gov.

But, what is a poll book?

According to election officials, the poll book lists all registered voters assigned to a particular polling place in the state. Every voter is verified at the poll book check-in table by publicly stating their name and address and providing photo identification. If the voter is registered and provides a valid photo ID, he or she will sign the poll book and be given a ballot.

Voters can also register on Election Day and cast their vote at the polls, according to https://myvote.wi.gov.

After residents have marked their selections from the candidates and propositions available, they place the ballot in the tabulator where it is counted toward the election results, according to election officials.

Election Security For Absentee Ballots

Absentee ballots are also processed on Election Day. Those requesting an absentee ballot must be registered to vote, and election officials double-check their information and eligibility before they are sent a ballot.

According to https://myvote.wi.gov, here is how absentee ballots are tallied:

“Election inspectors first verify the absentee ballot envelope meets all requirements, including the presence of a voter signature, witness signature, and witness address. If all requirements are met, election inspectors will open the envelope and place the ballot in the tabulator. These voters are marked with their voter number on the poll book when their votes are counted. The entire process is open to observation by members of the public.”

After the election, local election officials review the poll book, which voters signed on Election Day, and manually update the voter registration system by inputting who voted, according to https://myvote.wi.gov.

Under state statute, clerks are allowed up to 45 days after a general election to record this information. After your vote has been recorded in the voter registration system, you can verify by checking the My Voting Activity section under My Voter Info on the My Vote website.

More Election Security Measures

There are other election security measures taken as well as practical safeguards election officials follow to protect the integrity of local elections and to make sure every legal vote is counted correctly.

Those measures include:

There is just one ballot allowed per voter: A statewide database tracks every ballot and voter registration to help local clerks verify voter eligibility and ensure there’s just one ballot per registered voter.
Absentee votes must be witnessed: For an absentee by mail ballot to be considered valid, absentee voters must have a witness — a U.S. citizen who can confirm the voter filled out their own ballot.
Ballots are securely stored and transported: Absentee ballots are carefully collected and securely stored until Election Day. There’s a transparent chain of custody for every ballot and voting machine used in Wisconsin, according to https://myvote.wi.gov/.
Absentee ballots always get counted: It doesn’t matter if the race is close or a landslide win, all absentee ballots are counted on Election Day.
Election officials test and certify the voting equipment: Most absentee ballots are counted on local voting machines that have been certified and then tested in public before every election to make sure the equipment is accurate and working well for Election Day. In hand-count jurisdictions, the entire process of opening and counting ballots is conducted by a team of people in a setting that must be open to public observation.
Every vote has a paper trail: Wisconsin requires a paper record of every vote cast in our state, no matter what kind of ballot or voting equipment is used, according to https://myvote.wi.gov/.
The public can observe the process: From voting machine testing to the counting of absentee ballots, members of the public are welcome to observe the election process alongside trained local election officials.
Election results are triple-checked: An election’s vote total isn’t official until it has been checked at the municipal level, double-checked by the county, and certified by the state.
Officials look for inaccuracies: Local election officials conduct two separate audits after Wisconsin elections to look for count inaccuracies and identify cases of vote ineligibility or fraud.