BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Erie County Board of Elections is finishing its stress testing of all the election equipment that voters will start using in the coming days.
"In the back, we've already done the testing for the early voting machines. Those are ready, set and to go," said Deputy Commissioner Howard Johnson.
There are over a thousand pieces at their warehouse in Buffalo from ballot readers to auto-mark machines for people with an impairment. One by one they are poked, prodded, and tested replicating what record turnout could look like in this Presidential election year.
"It's always a high water year," said Paul, an employee at the board of elections.
The ballot machines being used to count votes in Erie County this year are a model newer. They are almost identical, except a little faster according to Deputy Commissioner Johnson so voters won't do anything different.
Before they go out to your polling place, they're tested for accuracy and fed dummy ballots to make sure they're functioning properly. The ballots are printed out with hypothetical votes for candidates like Donald Trump, Michael Keane, David Dipietro, and April Baskin.
"To ensure that you know that we have the right election district, the right towns, everything that comes along with it so we don't have a wrong machine in a wrong place and that the ballot is accurate itself," Johnson said.
While this type of testing is done quite often, Johnson said it's always paramount to ensure fairness and accuracy, wherever the machines end up, whether Clarence, Colden, Alden, or Buffalo.
The Deputy Commissioner added, "The information that is stored on these machines is not able to be hacked. Anybody can't just hack into these machines, a fair election that the process is fair and bipartisan with Dem and one Republican."
The first machines will be moved out starting Thursday to the 38 early voting sites in Erie County, which are open to any registered voter.
All other polling places will get them starting next week.
"We know the volume is going to be high but we're prepared and we're ready for it," said Johnson.