Once the Election Polls close, voters can be assured that the election offices will remain active to process all the ballots that were postmarked by November 3rd. Ballots properly postmarked will be counted at the elections office through November 20.
Ballots that are received at the elections office are removed from their envelopes, unfolded and prepared to be processed through the scan readers. During this process, there may be ballot envelopes that are unsigned or damaged that need to be handled by an election official.
Election officials will also use the 17 days after elections to process provisional ballots, first time voter who registered on election day, and verify signatures. Further, if a ballot has been received and was not signed, the elections office will attempt to reach that voter and allow the voter to visit the elections office and add the signature to the envelope; the bar code tracking allow for contacting the voter while keeping the ballot private in the envelop.
Voters should be assured that the outcome of local city council, school board, board of supervisors, and special district may not be finalized for several days following the election. Voters may visit VenturaVote.org for the updates regularly posted by Ventura County election officials. Statewide propositions will be found at www.sos.ca.gov/elections
Kathy Morgan
Ventura, CA