Iowa election officials test voting machines to ensure accuracy. Here's how they do it:

Polk County's vote tabulators are getting ready for primetime ahead of the 2024 election.

Election officials invited the public and members of the media to the Polk County Election Office on Thursday for a public testing of the county's roughly 200 voting machines to ensure they're working accurately.

The testing is designed to make sure the voting machines can recognize when a ballot is marked correctly or when there are issues such as an undervote (when a race is left blank) or an overvote (when a voter selects too many candidates for the same office).

The tests are required across Iowa's 99 counties ahead of each election. Polk County also allows members of the public to fill out their own sample ballots if they want to test that a machine is working properly.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, said the public testing helps give Iowans confidence that the process is working as it should.

"We want Iowans to be very comfortable on the integrity of the elections process," Pate said. "They all should feel confident when we finish this process that the results are correct."

The counties' successful vote tabulator tests mean the machines will be ready to go when early voting begins on Oct. 16 for the Nov. 5 election when the presidency, Congress, the Iowa Legislature, county offices and more will be on the ballot.

More: Your full voter guide to the 2024 election in Iowa

Pre-election vote tabulator testing is just one of the safeguards in place in Iowa's election system that ensure votes are counted accurately.

Iowans vote on paper ballots, creating a paper trail if any candidate requests a recount in their race after the election is over.

Once the election is complete, every county will conduct a post-election audit in one of their precincts where they double check the results of the presidential race and one other race that will be selected by the secretary of state's office.

"That's a way for us to, again, make sure the tabulators were working, and they're doing their checks and balances," Pate said.

Poll workers around the state are also being trained on Iowa's election laws so they're able to follow the proper procedures when they run the election.

Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald, a Democrat, said election officials around the state are working to make sure the results will be accurate.

"Every county auditor — big, small, urban, rural, Democrat, Republican — all just want the results to get in and to be accurate," Fitzgerald said. "Like I said, there's going to be people that you think should win that don't, but that's why we have all these processes in place, what we're doing today and at the end of the election."

Instances of voter fraud in Iowa are rare, and Pate said he believes Iowa's checks and balances are working well. But he says he doesn't want to take anything for granted.

"We believe we need to do everything we can maintain that integrity," Pate said. "So even one case of voter fraud is too much, but Iowa has a very good track record. I don't see any major conspiracies of people trying to do something here in our state."

Fitzgerald said the most common question his office is getting from voters is when they'll receive their absentee ballot.

That date this year is Oct. 16 — 20 days before the Nov. 5 election. That's the first day of in-person early voting and the first day that county auditors are allowed by law to mail absentee ballots to voters who have requested them.

For Iowans who plan to vote by mail, Pate said he encourages them to allow at least five days for their ballot to reach their county auditor.

"That ballot has to be back in the hands of the auditor on Election Day," he said. "Not the next day, on Election Day."

Iowans can track the status of their absentee ballot on the Iowa secretary of state's website.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at[email protected] or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Polk County officials test voting machines ahead of 2024 election