The election commission members double-checked voting machines and educated last-minute volunteers last week.

The poll workers are trained and the voting machines work, the commissioners said.

All of the men and women who work the machinery behind our election system are at full gallop, heading toward Tuesday’s Election Day finish.

It takes months to prepare for an election, especially one of this magnitude. With nearly 50 candidates just on the county level, the task is daunting. Throw relatively new voting technology into the mix and you get an unusual challenge.

“This is not a normal election,” Commission Chairman Larry Gardner said. “Just in the sheer number of candidates, it’s not normal.”

The election commission is charged with ensuring the paper absentee and affidavit ballots — 24 for the Republican Party and 28 for the Democrats — are correct.

Then, they have to do it again on the electronic voting machines.

“We are contracted by both parties to do the technical part,” Gardner said. “We let the parties hire who they want (to serve as poll workers).”

The work continues down to the wire, Gardner said.

“The day before elections, we’ll go to each precinct and make sure they’re all set up properly,” he said.

Preparations for primaries start well before Election Day. When candidates qualify for an election in March, each party’s committee ensures they meet the requirements.

“We check credentials before we certify them to run to make sure,” said Audrey Seale, vice chair of the Adams County Democratic Executive Committee. “It’s the nuts and bolts of the thing, and it’s a lot of work.”

Each party also must hire poll workers and make sure they are trained, in this case, by the election commission.

Finding people who will work the polls for little pay is a task in itself, Seale said.

“Civic pride” motivates most poll workers, she said.

If things come up, such as an illness or death, the party has to replace poll workers, sometimes on short notice, Seale said.

“This time, we have a reserve list,” Seale said.

Local Republican Party chair Sue Stedman agreed that finding poll workers was one of the more difficult preparations.

“The biggest thing is to make sure we’ve got people there to operate the election for the Republican primary,” Stedman said. “That’s kind of our biggest challenge this year.”

Both sides are providing more poll workers than usual because of the unusual voting situation, Gardner said.

Because of the low turnout in the last few elections — 10 percent last time — when the electronic voting machines were new, relatively few people have used them.

And although the machines have been demonstrated to church groups, civic organizations and anyone who wanted, it’s still an uncertainty, he said.

“We’ll have extra people there to help show voters how to use the machines if they need help,” Gardner said.

Stedman said she expected a snag or two because of the new technology.

“I think we’re going to have a large turnout, and I think that could complicate things just a little bit,” Stedman said. “Probably a number of folks have never voted on the new equipment. But it’s not difficult, and there’ll be plenty of help on hand, so it shouldn’t intimidate anyone.”