by Sara Beth Williams–
Voter turnout was slower over the weekend in Citrus Heights, voting center inspectors say, but has already shown to be steady all morning long this election season and inspectors expect voting to pick up throughout the day and into the evening.
While early voting appeared to be slow over the weekend, at least one voting inspector said they saw an uptick in early voting and in voting this morning, compared to the primary election held in June. Another long-time inspector said many people vote by mail, drop off mail-in ballots, or wait until Tuesday evening to vote.
Sacramento County spokesperson Ken Casparis said County vote centers have been very busy today, and that “early turnout has been promising,” but that it’s too early to tell if turnout is higher this year, because so many people do vote by mail.
This season, once more the voting center at Sylvan Oaks Library has a drive-thru ballot drop off service where those with mail-in ballots can drop off their ballot with a group of voting center clerks. Ballots are placed by the person voting in a pink drop off bag that is secured with a lock that has a unique identification number.
This year, while Placer County has chosen to utilize a Scan and Go voting service, which scans ballots immediately, Sacramento County has chosen not to.
“When we moved to the Voters Choice Act model, we decided to keep tabulation centralized at our elections headquarters because we didn’t want to have to leave tabulation equipment at Vote Centers overnight. We have some Vote Centers that are open for 11 days, and dozens more that are open for four, so that’s a lot of potential exposure,” Casparis said Tuesday.
According to Sacramento County, as of the evening of Nov. 2, 9,248 have voted so far in person in Sacramento County. Additionally, 303,531 ballots have been returned, with 144,897 counted as mailed in, another 126,788 collected from drop boxes and another 22,598 dropped off at voting centers directly during the early voting period.
Glenn Miller, voting inspector at the Holy Family Community Center polling station, highly encouraged voters to sign up with Sacramento County to track their ballot. Voters who register will get a text when their ballot is dropped off, and when their ballot arrives at the county’s election headquarters, he says.
Find instructions on how to track your mail-in ballot on the California Secretary of State’s page here.
Larry Miramontes, who has been a voting inspector along with his wife since 2001, said the first pink mail-in ballot drop off bag at the Citrus Heights Event Center this Nov. 3 was nearly full by 9:30 a.m..
Mike Sheely, voting inspector at Edify Church, (formerly Citrus Heights Fellowship) said each voting center receives multiple pink mail-in ballot drop off bags. If one bag fills up, another is used. Sheely says voting officials from Sacramento County come around 12 or 1 p.m. to collect any ballot bags, and will provide more if necessary.
Every night, all sealed ballot envelopes must be counted, and the number, and the signatures, must match the number of people who have registered in person that day. The numbers of conditional ballots also must match the number of signatures registered that day.
Both mail-in ballots that are dropped off and in-person ballots that are filled out on site are in sealed, signed envelopes, and placed through a slot into bags that are locked with locks that have a unique identifying number. When the locks are placed on ballot bags, staff records the lock numbers in a secure log, noting details such as the date, time, and person responsible. This log creates a traceable record of every lock’s initial condition. Each bag must also be manned by one volunteer at all times while the voting center is open.
All voting materials and electronic equipment are securely locked up, lock identifiers are logged, and the voting center alarm systems are set every night before staff leaves.
When ballot bags are taken to Sacramento County Voter Registration representatives, those representatives check the lock identifiers against the logged numbers. If the numbers match and locks show no signs of tampering, it verifies that the bags remained secure from the time of sealing to the hand-off.
Voting locations are open until 8 p.m. Tuesday. The first results will begin to post at 8:15 p.m., according to Sacramento County.
All members of the public are allowed to observe the vote counting process at the Department of Voter Registration and Elections office, located at 7000 65th St. in Sacramento. Those interested in observing the process can learn more at the county’s website.
Want to see what happens to ballots once they reach the county’s elections office? Click here to see prior story.
