BARTOW COUNTY, Ga. — With early voting set to begin Oct. 13, election workers across Georgia are checking voting equipment and procedures ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm election, even as a State Election Board request for federal involvement fuels concern among voting-rights advocates. In Bartow County, Elections Director Joseph Kirk oversaw the required pre-election testing on Oct. 6, running ballots through machines to make sure the equipment records and tallies votes as expected. The process, known as logic and accuracy testing, covers the equipment and procedures used in voting, and members of the public may observe it. State law requires county election administrators to post the testing schedule publicly. Kirk said the checks can uncover common equipment issues, including malfunctioning screens, as well as errors in how ballots are handled or results collected. In his experience, tally discrepancies found during testing have stemmed from human error rather than machine failures. The testing is intended to catch problems before Election Day and help voters see how election equipment is checked. Georgia’s ballot-marking devices, used since 2020, display voters’ choices and produce a QR code used to tally votes. They are expected to be used in what may be the state’s last major election before lawmakers choose a replacement voting system. Marilyn Marks, executive director of the Coalition for Good Governance, has long advocated for hand-marked paper ballots. She said logic and accuracy checks are necessary but are designed to test whether equipment functions, not to detect malicious software or other security threats. Marks said she is also alarmed by a letter the State Election Board’s executive director sent last week to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche seeking federal “intervention” ahead of the midterms. She fears the request could lead to federal officials monitoring polling places or taking voting machines, though the letter’s request does not itself establish that either action will occur. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. Georgia congressional Democrats Sanford Bishop, Everton Blair, Hank Johnson and Nikema Williams condemned the request, arguing that it could undermine confidence in elections. They called on the board to reassure residents that the state’s voting systems are secure and comply with federal requirements. The potential effect on voters remains uncertain. Carmen Bergman of Greater Georgia, which works to register and turn out conservative-leaning voters, said many people she speaks with are more focused on affordability and public safety. Still, she said voters want confidence that their ballots will be counted securely. Lauren Groh-Wargo, chief executive of the voting-rights group Fair Fight Action, said she does not believe the board’s actions are influencing most voters. She pointed instead to a steep drop in absentee-ballot requests: about 116,000 voters had requested one this year, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office, compared with 285,000 during the 2022 midterms. Groh-Wargo attributed the decline to misinformation about mail voting; the figures alone do not establish why requests fell. This year’s ballot includes one of Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats and every statewide office. Voters can check registration, view a sample ballot and find their polling place through the secretary of state’s My Voter Page.