June 4, 2014 - SACRAMENTO - Just as they do after every statewide
election, California county elections officials are currently counting
the hundreds of thousands of vote-by-mail, provisional and other ballots
that are not counted on election day.
County elections officials
have until July 4 to ensure every eligible ballot is counted accurately
and certify final election results to the Secretary of State. Then the
Secretary of State has until July 11 to review the materials, resolve
any reporting discrepancies and compile the 58 county reports for
complete election results.
In processing vote-by-mail ballots,
elections officials must confirm each voter’s registration status,
verify each voter’s signature on the vote-by-mail envelope, and ensure
each person did not vote elsewhere in the same election. Other ballots
that are processed after election day include provisional ballots
(processed similar to vote-by-mail ballots), and ballots that are
damaged or cannot be machine-read and must be remade by elections
officials.
Depending on the volume of unprocessed ballots, it may
take the full month for county elections officials to verify voter
records and determine which ballots have been cast by eligible voters.
While the Secretary cannot announce the winner of a contest before all
ballots are counted, news media or campaigns sometimes choose to call an
election sooner.
"With the popularity of voting by mail and the
ability voters have to cast a provisional ballot to ensure they are not
disenfranchised, county elections officials' work continues for up to a
month after election day," said Secretary of State Debra Bowen,
California's chief elections official. "Accuracy is the most important
element in democracy."
As with past statewide elections,
Secretary Bowen has asked all county elections officials to report the
number of unprocessed ballots they have on hand so she can provide a
statewide estimate to the public. The numbers of ballots left to count –
as voluntarily reported by county elections officials – will be posted
by June 6 at
vote.sos.ca.gov/unprocessed-ballots-status. The website will be updated each time a county elections official provides an updated report.
Many
laws and procedures must be followed during this official canvass
period before the election results can be certified. Among other things,
county elections officials must:
- Audit all materials returned from polling places to ensure all
ballots – voted, un-voted, spoiled, provisional, vote-by-mail,
surrendered vote-by-mail – are accounted for.
- Ensure the signature on each vote-by-mail ballot envelope matches
the signature on the voter’s original voter registration application.
- Research all voters who cast provisional ballots to ensure each person was registered to vote and did not vote more than once.
- Remake ballots that machines cannot tabulate because of wrinkles, smudges or other damage.
- Hand-count votes for qualified write-in candidates.
- Sort all vote-by-mail ballots by precinct so they can be manually audited.
- Manually audit 100 percent of the ballots from one percent of the precincts in the county to ensure the results are accurate.
- Manually audit 100 percent of the voter verified paper audit trail
to ensure votes cast on direct recording electronic machines were
tabulated accurately.
- Audit all voting equipment to ensure it was properly secured and was not tampered with.
The Secretary of State will continue to update the election results
website at vote.sos.ca.gov as county elections officials continue
reporting results. County officials sometimes update their own websites
before reporting to the Secretary of State. County contact information
is at
www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_d.htm.
For more details on the election reporting process, visit
vote.sos.ca.gov/frequently-asked-questions/#website.
Keep
up with the latest California election news, trivia and tips by
following @CASOSvote on Twitter. To subscribe to state election news via
email or RSS feed, go to
www.sos.ca.gov/multimedia.
