Virginia county holds election office open house as voting misinformation swirls

Voters in Prince William County, Virginia, got a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of their election office.

To combat misinformation about ballot security and election integrity, the office staff decided to let the public see what they do and judge for themselves.

The open house was so popular that 300 county residents quickly signed up, and there was a waitlist.

Office staff led two days of tours detailing the nitty gritty of the election process.

Visitors learned how voting machines are tested before election day, how voter rolls are maintained and how absentee ballots are handled.

"We only send ballot to voters who request them," one elections official said.

Visitors learned about the many layers of verification of election night results.

"The state system we’re using also has validation," Elections Director Eric Olsen said.

They also heard about the challenge of staffing polling places, to make sure both major parties get represented equally.

The main takeaway of tour participants who News4 spoke with was renewed confidence in the election system.

"With this tour I’m very confident the elections are very secured," participant Nira Sheppard said.

That confidence comes as former President Donald Trump and other political leaders continue to cast doubt on 2020 election results, with the Trump team working to assemble more than 100,000 volunteer poll watchers and attorneys to monitor the 2024 vote.

Olsen said he came up with the open house plan with the hope of giving the public a chance to see for themselves what happens.

"Bringing people into our process and showing them how it works, and then also all the steps we do to make sure our elections are fair and accurate and done really well," he said. "We want to make sure we demonstrate that for the public."

Some on the tour said the media spotlight on the 2020 results has raised questions in their mind — questions put to rest Friday.

"I think if you listen to some the media stuff, I think, yes, you do have doubts, but after seeing this process and the time and care that’s put into this and the effort that's put into this, it’s really calmed some of those doubts down," participant Doug Radoye said.

Others saw the tour as part of their civic duty. They leave armed with accurate information they can share in the community.

"They have a lot of safeguards," participant Michelle Oha. "They have a lot of double checks, triple checks."

"You have to know how it’s done, and a lot of the things that you hear are just not accurate," participant Dennis Baugh said. "So, the only way you can counteract that is to have good information."