BALLOT PROCESSING AT ELECTIONS OFFICE
Over 33,000 ballots received for the Sept. 14 recall election
Hundreds of ballots speed down a conveyor belt all at once and are sorted to their corresponding precinct after a ballot sorting machine checks their signature and barcode ID to ensure they are valid.
This is the first part of a process that will eventually count all of the votes for the fast-approaching Sept. 14 gubernatorial recall election. Eligible voters have been able to mail in their ballots since Aug. 16, and the Elections Office has received 33,501 ballots as of Friday.
“In the old days, all this was done by hand,” Jesse Salinas, Yolo County’s chief election official, said. “More and more people are voting by mail now since everybody in the new model gets to vote by mail.”
Salinas noted that only roughly a quarter of registered voters were voting by mail 10 years ago but that the percentage has grown significantly — particularly in the last year since voting by mail became a safe alternative to voting
in person during the pandemic.
“In the last election, we had over 90,000 people that voted by mail in Yolo County alone,” he emphasized. “We got this new equipment to help with the processing.”
After ballots are scanned by the Agilis ballot sorting system, staff use another machine — an OPEX Rapid Extraction Desk — to cut open ballots prior to being flattened and processed through a scanner that scans the ballot and records it in the system. However, the staff is not allowed to start tabulating votes until election night at 8 p.m.
According to Salinas, the Elections Office also has many iPhones that were purchased to go to every Voter Assistance Center to ensure workers can communicate any concerns or request extra equipment if needed through an App they created. He mentioned that they were able to partner with Verizon and only paid $1 — plus taxes — for each phone.
“We’re able to be very nimble in terms of our ability to respond to people in the field,” Salinas said regarding the app.
This app is one of the main reasons they were able to win the National EAC Clearinghouse Award for “Best Practices in Election Administration.”
Salinas encourages people to visit to observe the process themselves if they are worried about or simply interested in what happens to their ballots after they mail them in.
“The key thing is that we are transparent,” Salinas highlighted. “People are welcome to come in.”
Salinas assured anyone worried about the use of Dominion Voting Systems that Yolo County uses a different system — Hart InterCivic — but argued that all voting systems used in California are safe.
“Regardless, they’re not connected to the internet,” he stated. It’s a safe system, and I would say that is true throughout California.”
Although the Elections Office will be closed this Monday in observance of Labor day, people are welcome to visit Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to see how ballots are processed and prepared for counting. Staff request that you email them at elections@yolocounty. org to let them know you’re planning on attending so that they can let you into the building.