ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Election integrity is top of mind as we count down to Election Day. Folks with the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office are working to get voting machines ready for rollout. That means they need an official stamp of approval.

KOB 4 found out there are about 200 more to go before accepting your Election Day vote.

“This process is wide open to the public or the political parties to observe,” said New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver. 

They are testing 10 to 12 machines at a time, making sure the test run matches the test results.

“It’s important to make sure all the programming has been done correctly, all the various votes will be counted correctly,” said Nathan Jaramillo, with the Bureau of Elections Administrator for Bernalillo County. 

Jaramillo says if everything lines up, the voting boxes are reset and sealed up. Then, they get a stamp of approval and an assigned destination. 

A series of steps all logged and recorded are sent to the Secretary of State’s Office as well as the major political parties.

“If there is an issue with a particular tabulator. We will isolate that one and quarantine it, and it will not be utilized back in that election cycle, it may never be used again,” said Jaramillo. 

As for all the test ballots, Jaramillo says they are very carefully handled and tracked.  

“We ensure that all of these are accounted for, and they have a denoted ” A test” on them. We know the specific number of ballots we have for the test decks, and we make sure they are all accounted for, and then they are locked up in a secure location,” Jaramillo said. 

This process is about getting the machines ready to count your vote. You may have other questions about the election process and voter security.

KOB 4 reporter Ryan Laughlin and Brittany Costello are working on some team reports.