With Election Day fast approaching, San Luis Obispo County acquired a new Dominion High Pro ballot scanner to expedite the counting of local election results, according to Erin Clausen, San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Public Information Specialist.
Clausen said the scanner triples the speed of existing machines. The ballot-counting process is overseen by the County Clerk-Recorder and its office’s elections officials.
The county signed a five-year contract with Dominion Voting Systems on July 8 to use their scanners and other voting technology. When deciding on the contract, District 5 Supervisor Debbie Arnold and 16 community members raised concerns about the machines’ integrity.
On a national scale, Dominion sued Fox News for perpetuating unsubstantiated claims of election fraud in 2023, and Fox News settled the lawsuit for over $787 million.
The United States Elections Assistance Commission and the California Office of Voting Systems Technology Assessment extensively and independently verified Dominion’s voting technology.
Clausen said that with scrutinized access to the physical ballot-counting machines and no internet access going to machines, any chances of altering election results are highly limited.
Here is a breakdown of the county’s ballot-counting process:
Layers of testing for accuracy
When a ballot is initially received, volunteers will cross-reference the signature on the ballot with the one documented on voter records. If one member of a household accidentally signs another’s ballot, officials can reference their voter and driver’s license records to confirm the validity of the ballots, according to Clausen.
Prior to ballot counting, the machines go through logic and accuracy testing as required by the state’s elections code. The county is given a variety of test decks, which are stacks of ballots with pre-determined results, to test the machines’ capabilities.
The existing machines can count ballots in sets of 50, while the new Dominion High Pro machine can hold 200 ballots in batches of four. Before Nov. 5, elections officials take shifts inputting received vote-by-mail ballots into vote-counting machines.
The county employs two other methods to verify the legitimacy of the ballots they receive, Clausen said.
The first is adjudication—a process used when bubbles on a ballot are marked unclearly. The ballot is analyzed by three different election employees to correctly determine which answer was meant to be selected.
The final step is the manual tally count. After final ballots are counted, the county Clerk-Recorder randomly aggregates 1% of ballots cast. Elections officials hand-count those ballots and compare them with machine-counted results to ensure consistency.
Public access
Other than voting, any member of the public can actively participate in the election process by watching it happen in real time.
Community members can sign up to be poll watchers, a voluntary program to observe polling locations as residents cast their votes, Clausen said.
Poll watchers must fill out paperwork and complete in-person training before Election Day. They are also required to stand over 100 feet from a polling location during voting hours, according to the county’s poll watching guide.
The election observers program is for those who want to be in the recorder’s office as employees verify and count results. Observers must sign their name, include a reason for their visit and wear a visitor badge, Clausen said.
For voters who are unsure about the election process, Clausen recommends speaking with an election employee to understand the mechanics more thoroughly.
“We truly appreciate when someone cares enough to ask us a question,” Clausen said. “We’re nonpartisan. We serve voters of all stripes and we are happy to talk with anyone.”