Behind the scenes look at ballot counting in San Benito Co.

Election staff and volunteers run a tight ship, counting ballots inside the old courthouse in San Benito County.

“The voter’s intent is what we’re striving to get every time,” said Angela Curro, San Benito County Assistant Clerk. “The detail that we use allows us to be truly confident that every vote is counted accurately and timely.”

Once the ballots arrive the signatures and addresses on them are verified. They’re pre-sorted by precinct and batched into groups to be manually looked at by the team who tries to catch any issues before the ballots hit the machine. Once ballots are approved, they’re sent downstairs for a ride through the machine. Once again being counted and scoured for discrepancies.

“The machine are extremely accurate,” said San Benito County Clerk Joe Paul Gonzalez. “Actually more accurate than humans.”

When the machine catches an error such as too many candidates marked, “They’ll go back upstairs for reprocessing for duplication,” said Gonzalez. “Once that’s completed then they’ll bring them down here and we’ll count them again.”

Officials said from start to finish each ballot takes up to five days for complete review. It’s a labor intensive process, especially when you consider this elections record voter registration.

Officials said of the 28,000 voters in San Benito County, 72 percent of them are voting by mail.

“Vote by mail voting is just more convenient,” said Gonzalez.

Volunteers and staff said while they anticipate the excitement and fun that comes with counting ballots, they’re also looking into implementing newer systems once the election is over that would eliminate some of the tedious steps.

“We’d be able to run them through the machines most likely without having to do any presort,” said Curro.

Curro also said they welcome anyone to come into the office and watch the entire process, especially on Election Day.