Election 2022: Placer County officials explain lengthy ballot count process

With accuracy and integrity at the forefront of their minds, Placer County Elections officials continued to count ballots this week. Results have been trickling in from the county, with updated election results posted twice a week. As of press deadline Friday morning, the Placer County Elections Office has reported 40 percent of the expected turnout. The most recent update included results for only 497 additional ballots, with an additional estimated 105,000 mail-in ballots to count. Stacy Robinson, public information assistant for the Placer County Clerk-Recorder-Elections office, said the staff had to put a processing hold on counting mail-in ballots starting Nov. 2 (almost a week before Election Day) to focus on polling place rosters and roster verification, which is part of the explanation for the slow release of results so far. "One of the definitive differences with Placer County is that we're one of the last counties in the region to maintain your community polling place," Robinson said. "We do that to make sure that all our registered voters have access to vote in person should they choose to do so." Because Placer County offers voting at polling places on Election Day and everyone receives a mail-in ballot, the Elections Office is required to make sure rosters match up and that "nobody who votes in person on Election Day also submitted a vote-by-mail ballot," according to Robinson. This process took time and delayed the count of mail-in ballots, which have their own multi-step process before they can be counted. So why are neighboring counties ahead of Placer in reporting results? Clerk-Recorder-Registrar Ryan Ronco explained Placer County uses Voters Choice Act options, which includes a lengthier early in-person voting period at regional vote centers with laptops that communicate in real time with their county offices. "Our paper rosters take a lot more time to process," Ronco said. Voters Choice Act voting may be in Placer County's future, but Ronco said the Elections Office would have to request additional funding and the transition would be lengthy. "That will speed up some of our process, but there's still going to be a lot of people that really just want the convenience of vote by mail," Ronco said. "And so at the end of the day, the lessons we learn is trying to make sure the voters understand what is going to happen." That education includes that mail-in ballots have their own multi-step process to be counted as legitimate ballots. The life cycle of a ballot includes: ·&emsp;Take the privacy tab off every signature privacy window ·&emsp;Run it through the sorter scanner to capture a picture of the signature, sorted into groups of 200 ·&emsp;Signature verification by a trained technician by comparison of previous signatures for the registered voter on file ·&emsp;Ballots run back through the sorter scanner to sort it down to Placer County Supervisorial District ·&emsp;Ballots are removed from envelopes via machine and placed in boxes ·&emsp;Ballots are flattened and checked for potential processing errors by hand ·&emsp;A team works to count the ballot and place it in a sealed box of 200 ·&emsp;Sent to the vote scanner to be counted via machine "People ask why is it taking so long and I get it," Ronco said. "It's because they see 'American Idol' and they have a million votes counted in a commercial break. But this is an exacting process and we have to make sure it's a hundred percent accurate and right." Another piece of information people may not know is the Elections Office was still receiving vote-by-mail ballots through this week. Ronco estimated turnout to be 68-70 percent of Placer County voters for this election. Ronco and Robinson said the Elections Office has an open-door policy and invites anyone from the public to observe the ballot-counting process. "We encourage people to come here and to see the process," Robinson said. "To understand with their own eyeballs what it is we do during this process." Ronco has been giving three to five tours daily "when he's not signature verifying himself," Robinson said. The Elections Office, which also faces staff shortage challenges, has been running six days a week since late October. Right now, ballot counters are working 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. So why isn't Placer County reporting results more frequently? Ronco said every time the county reports numbers, it has to do an unprocessed ballot report to the state. "To do it right takes a couple of hours and we don't want to waste the time," Ronco said. Before Ronco was elected, he said the Elections Office did not update results during the canvass period at all. Another confusion point for local voters includes the BallotTrax program, which was designed to track vote-by-mail ballots. While many residents have received "your vote has been counted" texts from the BallotTrax program, what that really means is the office has received your ballot and legitimized the signature on the exterior of the envelope. "Your ballots stop being tracked at that point," Ronco said. "If the signature has been verified, the ballot will be counted sometimes within minutes to a couple of days." With more than half the remaining ballots left to be counted, no local races can be called with certainty until Placer County certifies the election results on Dec. 8. "I hope the takeaway becomes, 'Wow, I'm proud of my county for actually making sure that everything's so exacting. I know that it takes a long time, but it takes a long time because it's important,' " Ronco said. Robinson agreed, adding, "Speed is desirable, but accuracy is non-negotiable." The next ballot count, which Ronco estimates results from 20,000 additional ballots, was scheduled to report out by 5 p.m. Friday, past Auburn Journal deadline. To see the latest results for your local races, visit the Auburn Journal's results story online. For all other county results or more Elections Office information, visit placercountyelections.gov.