Department:
Elections

Date:
6/7/2018
Contact:
Carla Hass

Phone:
(530) 621-4609

“At approximately midnight on election day, June 5th, the Elections Department provided online results of the primary election based on the number of votes counted at that time. As is common, both in El Dorado County and nearly every County throughout the State, there are ballots that were received and remain to be verified and counted after that first official notice of results is provided.

“When we indicate a precinct has “reported,” it simply means that the ballots within that precinct have been received by our office, but not that every ballot has been verified and counted. That process is a transparent, secure and thorough process that takes a varying amount of time depending on the number and type of ballots received.

“At this point, we have nearly 23,000 ballots that will be verified and counted. These remaining ballots are comprised of ballots received from polling place ballots, drop-off centers and mail-in ballots.

“Because of the scrutiny and care with which we verify each ballot, the entire process from a voter turning in their ballot to a final count includes multiple steps and takes significant time. Final results are not required to be submitted to the Secretary of State until 30 days after an election. We have never missed a deadline and we do our best to be timely within the process, but not at the expense of errors.

“The fact that there remain a sizeable percentage of uncounted votes less than 48 hours after an election is common and is not something for the voting public to be concerned about. “There is little more sacred in this County, this State and this nation than the right to vote. Every single person involved in the process is diligent in their responsibility and dedicated to the transparent, fair and legal outcome of each election.

“My office has historically provided twice-weekly updates during the 30 days following an election until all ballots are counted and certified. We continue that process now and encourage citizens to be patient and check our website for updates here: https://www.edcgov.us/Government/Elections.”

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