Behind the scenes: How our votes are tallied

It’s been a busy week for the Monterey County Elections Office where early voting and mail-in ballots are now being counted. Elections officials said it’s a very thorough process.

“Sometimes voters have the option to write-in names and that will cause a human to look at it,” said Gina Martinez with the Monterey County Elections Office. “So now we have to take it aside and look at it. Everything else is counted.”

Also requiring the human eye are Vote by Mail ballots with too many candidates selected. Signatures must also be verified.

“Each signature is compared to the voter’s record that we have on file and we look for points of comparison on that,” said Martinez.

If they catch a pronounced change in a signature, they send a letter to the voter letting them know their John Hancock may need to be updated.

“We look for that information in the mail,” said Martinez. “As long as we can find that congruence we’re fine. When there is a complete mismatch, obviously that does not count.”

As this process is taking place all over the country, Republican candidate Donald Trump’s claims that the election will be rigged ring true for some voters.

“We need a photo I.D. for everything else but for the most important thing that we have, which is voting. T,hey’re not going to require that,” said voter Joe Vierra. “That shows you how corrupt our system is.”

Other people we talked to said, for the most part, they feel it’s an honest process.

“By and large, I have a great faith in the election process and the electoral system that’s worked very well for this country over the years,” said voter Dana Larrabee.

With such a contentious race for the White House, some said they believe it’s important to cast a vote.

“This is probably one of the most important elections this country has ever had,” said Larrabee.

Voters could experience a long wait time to vote with so many expected to turn out on November 8 th . To avoid that all together, the elections office is encouraging people to vote early.

ORIGINAL STORY: Amid campaign charges that the U.S. electoral system is flawed or even rigged, KION’s Maya Holmes is getting a behind-the-scenes look at the process in Monterey County.

On Thursday, Maya went inside the Monterey County Elections Office as the first Vote by Mail and early voting ballots were being counted. Maya learned about the process and spoke with voters about their faith in the system.

Watch Maya’s report tonight at 5 and 6 on KION News Channel 5/46.