Voting machines in Lee County tested and ready for Florida Primary election

The voting machines for the Florida Primaries next month by law and before each election, need to perform a logic and accuracy test.

The Lee County Board of Elections tested its voting machines in advance of the Primary Election on August 23, 2022. Because, after the nationwide chaos in 2020, it’s critical voters trust the results when they cast their ballot.

This is very important to Tommy Doyle, a supervisor for elections in Lee County. “We’ve got 21,000 more voters than we had in 2020,” Doyle said.

Doyle mentioned Republicans now outnumber Democrats by nearly 100,000 voters in Lee County alone. “It’s steady growth, steady growth here in Lee County, people are moving in registering to vote,” Doyle said. “I mean, you know, we had nearly a 22% increase in population in 10 years. So it’s steady growth.”

Testers took a pre-marked ballot and scanned it into a tabulator. Then, tested the touch screen ballots, which are used by people with disabilities. The election bureau also did an initial canvass of vote by mail ballots, the results were perfect.

Monday was also the deadline for anyone to register to vote and for those wanting to flip political party affiliation. For the first time ever, the Florida GOP boasts a registered voter advantage of 200,000 over the Democrats.

If you would like to vote by mail, you have until August 13, 2022, to request a ballot. Florida law requires each request to be made in writing and signed by the voter.