San Rafael, CA – Voters in Marin County are eager to receive final results from the November 6 statewide general election, and staff from the Marin County Elections Department is working hard to tally the estimated 47,000 ballots that remain uncounted.
Ballots are stacked inside the Elections Department at the Civic Center.
An
updated online tally is scheduled to be posted by 5 p.m. Friday, November 9, with updates coming again next week on Wednesday and Friday. The updates will continue Wednesdays and Fridays until the election is declared completed.
As of noon Friday, Registrar of Voters Lynda Roberts estimated voter turnout in Marin could get close to 80 percent by the time the tally is completed. In the June 2018 primary election, 87,000 voters participated compared with 129,000 projected turnout for this November election.
With the increased turnout, the Elections Department staff has processed about 40,000 more ballots in the same amount of time with the help of increased staffing. Employees have worked overtime and will work through the Veterans Day holiday weekend on tallying ballots.
Roberts said part of the challenge is adapting to a new reality due to changes in state law. The law allows mailed ballots to be counted up to three days after the election if they were postmarked by Election Day. In the days following the election, several thousand ballots were received, which is typical.
Another change allows voters to register at the Marin County Civic Center and submit a provisional ballot starting 14 days before the election until 8 p.m. on Election Day. The approximately 450 ballots from that process require research about the voter’s registration status and signature verification before being counted. Elections Department staff must ensure that people haven’t already voted in another county.
In addition, more voters are mailing ballots closer to Election Day or dropping them at polling places.
“It is great to see the high voter turnout and know people are eagerly waiting for election results,” Roberts said. “I want to assure our residents that we are putting in the extra effort to provide accurate election results as soon as possible.”
By law, the elections team has until December 6 to certify and report final election results to the Secretary of State. The election won’t be ratified by the Marin County Board of Supervisors until its December 11 meeting. Additional information about election results reporting and processing vote-by-mail and provisional ballots can be found on the California Secretary of State’s website.
For additional updates, follow the Elections Department on Facebook.