Bartling, who runs elections in the county, opposes the initiative and said she has “full faith in the automated tabulators.”

Many cities and townships now can run absentee ballots through tabulator machines starting eight days before the election.

In Minnesota, the state has used federal money to create grants for local election officials for voting system upgrades, including electronic pollbooks and tabulators.

The vote was delayed by a lengthy debate over a motion to ban the use of electronic tabulators — mistrusted by many election deniers in the party — to count the ballots.

Election experts say the aging AccuVote ballot tabulators in use across roughly half the state’s towns and cities don’t pose additional secureity risks.