Oakland County election officials show voters the process and security of ballot counting

OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Every day people visited the Oakland County Board of Canvassers training room Thursday, learning how the voting equipment works ahead of the November election.

"We're here to see democracy in action," said one resident.

Voters were invited to visit while election officials ran tests on the equipment that will be used to tabulate the ballots.

"It's the same as a ballot you would get, except that it says test ballot, obviously we have these filled out," said Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown,

Scott Jackson was there learning the ropes as he prepares to become an election inspector for the first time.

"Everything from how they are sealed, how do they get counted what do they do to basically identify faulty ballots," Jackson said.

"This is just one of many checks and balances that we do in Michigan to make sure our results are accurate, secure, and fair," Brown said.

"Military and overseas ballots that are sent electronically, those come back in a different type of ballot, they won't go through the machine," said Joe Rozell, Oakland County director of elections. "Republicans and Democrats transfer those votes onto a real ballot, so it will go through."

Oakland County officials say this is the same equipment they've used in the past, stressing the it is tested thoroughly before every election and that the counting of votes is always a bipartisan process.

"We've got Democrats and Republicans sitting next to each other in the precincts, in the av county boards working together to ensure that everybody's vote is counted correctly," Brown said.

The election is Tuesday, November 8th.