Frequently Asked Questions
Have a question about results reporting or other Election Night processes? Below are answers to some frequently asked questions to explain some of the ins and outs of Election Night operations and vote tabulation.
- How do votes make their way to the Elections Office on Election Night?
- What happens after voted ballots arrive at the Elections Office?
- Is there a way to track the voted ballots and equipment as all of it moves through the Election Night process?
- What is the importance of tracking and why are you doing it?
What equipment is required to tabulate votes electronically?
Elections - and electronic voting in particular - requires a number of pieces of specialized equipment. The names and roles of each can be confusing, so here is a glossary of the key ones in San Mateo County's election process:
- eSlate - electronic voting machine on which you cast your ballot
- Judge's Booth Controller (JBC) - machine used by poll workers to operate eSlates
- Mobile Ballot Box (MBB) - memory card inside the JBC which stores votes cast
- Blue ballot box - receptacle for voted paper ballots
- Red suitcase - mobile storage unit to hold all polling place supplies
How do votes make their way to the Elections Office on Election Night?
After the polls close at 8 p.m., poll workers use the Judge's Booth Controller (JBC) to print three paper reports containing the tally of votes cast on the eSlates at their precinct. One report is posted outside of the polling place and two are sent back to the Elections Office. This constitutes the back-up paper record of electronic votes cast.
All precinct materials are then accounted for and packed up. The precinct inspector - or head poll worker - and one other poll worker then bring the JBC, filled blue ballot box and red supply suitcase to one of 14 receiving stations. The items are unloaded from the inspector's vehicle and immediately transferred to a waiting transport truck. Inside the JBC is the Memory Ballot Box (MBB), which contains all the electronic votes cast.
From the receiving station, two members of the elections staff drive the transport truck containing the live ballots and equipment to the Elections Office at 40 Tower Road in San Mateo. As the truck departs, the driver notifies the Elections Office that they are en route.
When JBCs (with MBBs inside), blue ballot boxes and red suitcases arrive at both the receiving station and the Elections Office, a barcode on each item is scanned, allowing for an electronic chain-of-custody record.
What happens after voted ballots arrive at the Elections Office?
Transport trucks filled with live ballots and precinct equipment from receiving stations are unloaded as quickly as possible when they reach the Elections Office.
Blue ballot boxes, which contain voted paper ballots, are taken to a secure room. The boxes are opened, and the voted paper ballots are read by BallotNow scanners.
For votes cast electronically, Judge's Booth Controllers (JBCs) are sent down a conveyor for processing. The JBCs are inspected by elections staff to ensure that security protocol has been followed. Any JBCs for which security appears to have been breached or protocol not followed are set aside. Seals on secure JBCs are then broken and the Mobile Ballot Boxes (MBBs) inside them removed.
MBBs, which contain the vote totals for each precinct, are then transferred to our secure tally room. Only authorized elections officials may enter the tally room, which is monitored by security cameras and a San Mateo County Sheriff's Deputy on Election Night.
Each MBB is then read by an electronic reader and the votes from each precinct are downloaded to a database. As required by law, the computers used in this process have no connections to an external or internal network. Once the votes are tallied and the reports are proofed, the semi-official results are uploaded to our Web site - in both HTML and PDF format - every half hour.
Is there a way to track the voted ballots and equipment as all of it moves through the Election Night process?
With our Precinct Tracker, you can track voted ballots and election equipment as all of it moves from polling locations to receiving stations and then to the Elections Office. The status - marked by colors - of a precinct's ballots and equipment will change after passing each step in the Election Night process.
Nearly every piece of election equipment is barcoded and affiliated with a numbered precinct. These precinct components are scanned at each location in the Election Night chain of custody. The scanning process updates the Web-based Precinct Tracker, and the location and status of a precinct's components appear online in real time.
It's easy to see that the ballots and equipment from precincts located closest to the Elections Office on Tower Road in San Mateo will move more quickly through the process. Those ballots and equipment from precincts further away will move more slowly.
What is the importance of tracking and why are you doing it?
Tracking the movement of ballots and voting equipment is part of our commitment to election integrity, election security and transparency in the Election Night process.
The vitality of our democracy - from the White House all the way down to San Mateo County's school districts - depends upon reliable and secure election results. Voters must feel confident that our Election Night process is conducted with integrity. A transparent chain-of-custody log, viewable to the public online, enhances voter confidence that nothing surreptitious is being done with ballots or voting equipment.
It is also critical to stakeholders, on both sides of important issues or races, to know the results of elections as soon as possible. By tracking the movement of each precinct's ballots and equipment on Election Night, we can give candidates, voters and other stakeholders a better idea of when they can expect results to be reported.
