Election officials prepare for ballot count

The 2016 General Election is just over a week away, and county elections offices were testing equipment Monday to ensure there won’t be problems tabulating the vote.

On Thursday, the first of the Vote by Mail ballots will be sent through the system, although tabulations won’t be made until the polls close November 8.

In Santa Cruz County, the process involves feeding ballots into machines that are ten years old. Gail Pellerin, Santa Cruz County Clerk, says the aging system means additional work for election staff.

“I mean, challenges voters don’t necessarily see. I mean certainly the front end and creating the ballot just takes a little extra work. It’s not streamline,” Pellerin said.

As the results come in election night, the numbers will be manually loaded and sent to the Secretary of State’s office.

“We just type it in, it’s not that much pressure. It came up to all physical security, we have to lock everything down,” said Martin Peadon, who has the task of manually sending results to the state.

Pellerin says she would like to see the system upgraded, but it will be costly and county supervisors will ultimately have the final say.