San Andreas, CA…Concerns are rising about electronic voting systems changing votes or the potential for hackers manipulating the votes. As the Registrar of Voters for Calaveras County the security of our Election is always my top priority. All votes in Calaveras are made on paper ballots. The ballots are then read by a scanner; either at your local polling place or at the Elections Office, but that is not where the vote counting ends. The day after the election we begin an audit often referred to as a canvass.

During this canvassing process we manually count the ballots to ensure the votes cast matches the machine count. We audit every aspect of the election from what occurred at each polling place to activities within our own office. We verify throughout the process that the chain of custody procedure is followed and that a single person is never left alone with a voted ballot. The election is not certified until every ballot is accounted for and the results have been declared accurate.

Election Night all ballots are physically returned to the Elections Office, the central counting location, and this is the location where all ballots are tabulated. The system used to count the votes is not, at any point in the process, connected to the internet making it impossible to hack.

Prior to every election, we conduct a test election on all equipment to ensure that votes are being counted accurately. After each piece of equipment passes the testing phase they are sealed, locked and kept in a secure location to guarantee that they are not tampered with between testing and use on Election Day.

Secure, fair and transparent elections are a vital part of our democracy. All processes of every election are open to the public and observers are always welcome. If you have questions, concerns or would like to observe the election process in action, contact our office at (209) 754-6376