With President Donald Trump accusing Democrats of attempting to “rig” California’s election, NBC Bay Area decided to go to the source and see exactly how local registrars protect, verify and count every vote that comes in.
At the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters office in San Jose, once ballots are collected, at least two authorized staff members will be with those ballots at all times.
“We have strict chain of custody procedures,” said Matt Moreles at the registrar’s office. “We make sure that two people are with the ballots at all times, whether they’re at the vote center or travelling by a courier back to our office or when they’re getting handled at our office and put into secure storage. We always have an unbroken chain of custody. We know who’s had access to them.”
First, the ballots arrive at a secure warehouse where they are sorted, scanned and organized by precinct. Then they head to a secure office where staff verify that the voter signature matches the signature on file. After the ballots are removed from the envelopes, they are then counted in a locked room, all in double custody.
“It starts here at our office in secure rooms that are controlled by camera surveillance and badge access, so we know who’s going in and out,” Moreles said. “All of our voting equipment is on a private network, completely separated from the internet or any other external network.”
If the ballot counting machine flags an issue, such as a voter circling a candidate’s name instead of filling in the bubble, then that ballot is sent to the adjudicator’s room where two credentialed staff members must confer and agree on the voter’s intent on that ballot. If they can’t, the ballot is held and the voter is contacted.
Source: NBC Bay Area
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