Since 2020, trust in how America counts its votes has been a constant theme surrounding elections. Comparing the presidential elections in 2016 and 2020, the Democracy Funds Voter Study Organization found the share of Americans confident their vote was counted accurately fell from 85% to 73%. In San Luis Obispo County, election officials point to a series of safeguards, from signature checks to a public hand count ensuring ballots are dealt with securely. Here’s how it works.

San Luis Obispo County follows a strict and organized process that ensures ballot security in the upcoming election. Ballots are brought into the Election Center, where they are sorted and counted by temporary city employees hired for election season. These employees have required background checks run on them before hiring. 

Votes are collected throughout the day and are run through an Aglis Machine, which scans the ballots to confirm the validity of the signatures. The machine then sorts valid and invalid ballots for further processing. Next, they are brought over to a set of computers where the signatures on the ballots are compared with the signatures in the city’s registry. If a signature does not match, a letter is sent to the voter’s home, allowing them to resend their ballot. If they do match, they are brought to the processing table. 

At the processing table, they are split into stacks of 25 and the signatures are ripped off and placed facing downwards, so the votes can be processed anonymously. These stacks are stored in bins.

Votes are counted as ballots are fed into tabulators, which function like a Scantron machine. If a vote is flagged, it is reviewed by a three-person team who will determine the voter’s intention. Votes can be flagged if multiple choices are circled, the ballot is ripped or if there is a write-in candidate whose name is not in the running.  

The tabulators count the votes as they run through the machine, then store the results until election night at 8 p.m. They are inaccessible to anybody until then as the computer locks the results until a city employee presses a release button. The first wave of results comes from early voting, and the tabulator continues to release results every two hours until the tally is finalized. 

At the conclusion of an election, poll workers hand count 1% of the ballots from a portion of the election and match them up with the tabulator to confirm its accuracy. According to the San Luis Obispo County election report, 92,526 ballots were sent in San Luis Obispo County, meaning nearly 1,000 ballots will be hand counted in order to confirm the validity of the 2026 midterm election. 

Erin Clausen, a public information officer for the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, encouraged anybody skeptical about the process to head down to the clerk’s office and see it for themselves. 

“Everything we do with ballots is publicly observable and done during business hours, or if we extend our hours, we always let people know ahead of time on our website. So if you have the time and the interest, come watch. I think you’ll be impressed at all the levels of, all the layers of security and the checks and balances that make sure that things are secure and safe,” Clausen said.  

Clausen emphasized the importance of voting, especially on local levels. 

“Local elections in particular, the city races, the community services districts, those kinds of things, those are often decided by just a few votes, and so I know it’s really easy to say, my vote doesn’t actually count, but in particular at the local level, it really, really does, and it’s also your chance to participate,” she said.