Ballots flip through a sorting machine that Sacramento County Elections employee Joe Scarpa runs.
“The sorter takes the ballots that come in, either from the dropboxes, the mail and the vote centers, and it sorts them down in two passes so that we have them isolated to individual precincts,” he explained.
What Sacramento elections workers call the “lifecycle” of a ballot is all about security – from the kinds of machines they use to who’s in the room when it’s processed.
The sorting machine also slices the ballots open and takes a picture of each signature, which gets checked.
The next stop is with Nettie Thomas.
‘We're in the extraction room,” she said. “It's where the ballots come in and we physically take them out.”
She and a partner use a machine to extract the ballots. No one is allowed to be alone with a ballot. There are also only red pens allowed here because the machines can’t read red ink.
Thomas and her colleague sort them from there.
A third machine counts the ballots – state and federal law assure the right to a secret ballot, meaning they have to be counted without personal information still attached.
“I think the most important part is to get out and vote,” Thomas said. “That is it. We’ll take care of the rest.”
The machines will give their first set of results at 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5.
And until then, if you have any concerns about your ballot this year — or you're just curious about where it is — Sacramento County Election Official Karalyn Fox said you can look it up.
“From when it gets sent out, to when it's received in our office and when it's been approved, or if there's any issue with your ballot, you can get notified right then through the Secretary of State,” Fox said.
She and other officials emphasized that ballot boxes and voting centers are safe.
Taking safety one step further, Sacramento County Elections Spokesperson Ken Casparis said all ballot boxes in the county have fire suppressants. Most of the boxes are located inside high-trafficked places with set hours, like libraries, to minimize the likelihood of someone tampering with them.
Casparis added that election workers are trained on de-escalation and other ways to keep the peace if needed. The county elections office remains in close contact with local law enforcement and has plans in place for disruptive scenarios, like weather or a threat of violence, officials said.
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