Election Verification — Can Voters be Sure Their Votes Will be Counted in 2022?
Ethnic Media Services and California Black Media held a joint briefing, Nov. 4, on the national overview of how this election’s ballots will be collected, counted, and tallied, and how the elections will be certified.
The briefing also explored what steps is California is taking to prevent voter intimidation at the polls in this year’s mid- terms, and to verify that votes are accurately and fairly counted.
Speakers – Derek Tisler, counsel in the Brennan Center for Law & Justice’s Elections & Government Program, author of new study “The Roadmap to the Official Count in the 2022 Election”; and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, California ́s first Black Secretary of State and only the fifth African American to serve as a state constitutional officer in California ́s 170- year history – spoke in two halves. The first half hour being dedicated to the National Arena with Derek Tisler, and the second half with Honorable Secretary of State of California, Shirley Weber, who focused on California voting.
Derek Tisler, Council in the Brennan Center for Law & Justice’s Elections & Government Program
Tisler spoke about the many steps that election officials take to ensure that every eligible vote is counted, and that the final result is accurate.
“Despite the many challenges that election officials faced in 2020 with the pandemic and with record-breaking turnout, federal officials and election security experts declared that election, the most insecure in history.
“We are confident that 2022 will have a similar outcome. It’s true that our election system faces new challenges since 2020. Some voters will face new requirements as they cast their ballot this year especially if they are voting by mail.
“Georgia and Texas, for example, passed laws that require more identifying information to be included on absentee applications and ballots than in years past.
“We’ve also seen false information spread about the security of the election process, with individuals claiming that there is widespread fraud in 2020 or that the election process was rigged even though these claims have been repeatedly disproven through lawsuits, investigations, and post-election audits.
“In the face of these challenges, some voters understandably have questions about whether their vote will be counted and whether they can trust the final outcome.
“Election administration is complicated and for most people their interaction with the election system ends when they mail in their ballot or when they cast it into the machine at their polling place.
“Election workers across the country count ballots and then check and recheck all ballots and other records until they are confident that every eligible ballot has been counted and included in the vote total.
“These processes generally take place in public. Representatives from campaigns, political parties, media, and the general public can and do observe election workers as they count and recount ballots to make sure that workers follow every step correctly as outlined by law and from the moment that voters cast their ballots,” said Tisler.
“States typically require two-person or bipartisan teams to collect handle and count ballots ensuring that there are internal checks in the process. States also keep detailed chain of custody records that track who is handling ballots at what times.
“Election officials always prioritize accuracy and security over speed. Therefore, despite some frustration over slower counts in 2020, election results are never final,” said Tisler.
“The election system in the U.S. is heavily decentralized which means that there is not one election system, but 50 different election systems. Even counties within a state may have distinct operating procedures.
“The process begins as voters cast their ballots in person; by dropping them off; or by returning ballots by mail. Regardless of the method, all ballots must be cast by the end of the day on Election Day.
“When a voter casts a ballot in person at their polling place, election officials generally confirm the eligibility of the voter when they check in and before the voter receives their ballot; when a ballot is returned by mail, election officials confirm the eligibility of the voter when the office receives the ballot and before the ballot gets sorted for counting. This step is known as processing.
“Election workers review the information on the ballot envelope confirm the identity and authenticity of the voter, verify that the voter is registered and eligible to vote, and then remove the ballot from the envelope to be counted.
“Processing is why mail ballots tend to take longer to count than ballots cast in person,” said Tisler.
What voters should be doing right now to ensure that they can cast a vote and have their ballot counted without difficulty?
“The most important thing is to make a voting plan. If you want to vote in person, make sure you know where your polling place is. It may be different from where it was located the last election.
“Also make sure you know what identification you need to cast the ballot and bring that ID with you. If you want to cast a mail or absentee ballot, go slow, and make sure you carefully fill out all the required information on your ballot envelope.
“This information is again what election workers check to confirm that you’re an eligible voter and all that information must be on the envelope. If you still have a mail or absentee ballot, voters should return that ballot in person to their election office or drop it off at a ballot drop box. Contact your local election office to learn what drop-off options are available as they vary by state. As it is close to election day, the post office may not be able to get the ballot back on time to be counted,” said Tisler.
California’s Secretary of State Shirley Weber
Secretary Weber began her remarks with reassuring all Californians, “As an election official, we are committed, and I am committed to ensuring that your vote will count.
“We want to make sure that everyone knows that they should sign their ballot. Once you sign that envelope and put it in the mail, it will get to us, and it will be counted.
“Return your ballots also on or before November 8. If you take your ballot to the local drop box, make sure it’s in by eight o’clock on November the 8. If you are returning it by mail you want to make sure that you look at your post office to see if it is picking up the mail at five o’clock and you’re standing there at six o’clock, that mail will not be postmarked by five o’clock, even though you dropped it in a post office. So, you want to make sure that that it is really gets stamped by eight o’clock, and if that box is not picking up any more for that day, that piece of mail will be stamped the next day.
What Happens to My Ballot?
“In California, we have ‘Where’s my ballot?’ which is an amazing experience. If you haven’t done it before, this will track their ballot. Every ballot has a code on it so when you sign up for tracking your ballot it, when your ballot hits the either the registrar voter office or the post office or wherever it’s going, you will start getting notifications about your ballot.
“Everyone in California will receive a vote by mail ballot. If you have not then you need to call your registrar voter or call our information lines in Sacramento to say something happened to your ballot, but by now, every person who is registered by the deadline in California, should have a vote by mail ballot delivered to their home.
“You don’t have to have a stamp to return it. Once you vote and sign it, and put it back in that envelope, you sign the envelope and you put it in the box. You don’t have to have a stamp,” said Secretary Weber.
“One of the things we deal with a lot is the whole issue of election deniers. While we don’t have many of them running for office in California, we do have some. There are others who’ve attempted to overturn the election in California, just like elsewhere, and generally it’s the whole issue of litigation,” said Secretary Weber as she introduced attorney Steve Reyes.
“We have not seen any type of threat to voters or poll workers that we’ve seen in other states. We don’t have people marching in front of our boxes with guns, with fatigue outfits, the kinds of things we recently saw last weekend in Arizona, and other places.
“We train our county workers our election officials and poll workers to make sure that the procedures they follow is safe. They understand the procedure that if problems arise, if there is someone trying to cause confusion, they have been trained on how to de-escalate the situation, and then if all else fails, we are prepared to basically call law enforcement.
“We’re prepared with our office, as well as our attorney general’s office, and others, to make sure that our poll workers, our people working to register our voters, that they are safe in California.
The secretary also talked about Prop 17 and also about how California was promoting participation in the high school population, who are soon to be of age for voting.
