STOCKTON – San Joaquin County held an open house on Tuesday to demonstrate transparency in ballot processing.
This happened after a case of electoral fraud in Lodi earlier this year This sent shockwaves through the county.
Every San Joaquin County voter was welcome to attend the open house and get a little taste of what will happen to their ballots in November.
Ahead of the event, San Joaquin County Elections Official Olivia Hale gave me a behind-the-scenes look at what voters will see—where their ballot goes and how it will be verified.
“There are several steps involved after the ballot is returned to our office,” Hale said.
Every single ballot that comes into San Joaquin County goes through a signature verification machine. It takes your name and address, verifies your signature, and checks that you are who you say you are. After the ballot comes out of the machine, it is sorted into bins and a worker counts your vote.
“This is a public election and it is very important to us as election officials that everything is open and transparent,” Hale said.
Hale added that there is a need for public access during this November election.
Earlier this year, dozens of mail-in ballots were found in the home of a former city council member.
“Given some concerns about fraud in our county, we took this very seriously,” Hale said.
While some voters appreciate the transparency, others, like Marcus Riddle, will not vote anyway.
“It used to be fun, but I probably won’t vote this year. It’s sad, but I just don’t know who I can trust anymore,” Riddle said. “I don’t know if that even matters anymore.”
If there are duplicate voter addresses or anything is wrong, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office investigates all possible cases of voter fraud.
The ballots are expected to be mailed out in early October.
