These and other questions are coming in to EIPCa hard and fast. We have been programmed to expect results in an instant, and for websites to give us immediate answers to everything we want to know.
BUT...If we want ACCURATE vote counts while greater and greater numbers of us vote by mail or provisionally, there is no choice but to wait. Let's consider these questions:
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I voted in person on Election Day. Why does the website say I have not voted? Should I be worried?
We are only halfway through the amount of time allowed for the processing of ballots. The answer to this question may lie in understanding county procedures.
If you voted in person, your voter history must be updated to reflect that you voted, but how? In most cases, employees from the Registrar's Office must transfer the information from the Voter Rosters in each polling place to the voter records. A signature in the roster indicates a vote. But counties determine their own procedures and timing. Once the county updates a voter history, that update should appear simultaneously on the Secretary of State website at www.voterstatus.sos.ca.gov.
If you voted by mail ballot, regardless of how you turned it in (mail, drop box, at ROV, at polls), it will go through exactly the same slow, laborious and subjective process of verification and scrutiny before (or if) it is counted. It will be signature matched, inspected, potentially "corrected" or "clarified", or perhaps "remade"-copied over. That process can take up to two weeks and possibly longer now that the mail ballot receipt date is extended by 3 days, ROVs have 8 days to forward mail ballots to their home counties and voters have 8 days to make corrections to rectify problems or omissions that would render their ballots uncountable.
What you do need to know is that all voter histories must be updated before a single provisional ballot is processed. If your county is still processing mail ballots, the voter histories are still incomplete. Do not worry yet. If your county has begun processing provisional ballots and you voted in person or by mail, your vote should be registered on the website. This is when to worry if it's not.
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How do we know the ultimate vote count is accurate?
We don't. The reality is that all votes submitted in envelopes (conditional, mail and provisional) pass through dozens of hands or more. Signatures are verified, a highly subjective process, and ballots are scrutinized, "corrected", at times "copied over" or "remade" before counting. With 60%+ of the CA population now voting by mail and another significant percentage voting provisionally, both voting methods that are easily manipulatable, the results tabulated represent at best the system's approximation of the actual will of the people, at worst a manipulated or error-ridden election result.
This is why the Election Integrity Project California encourages all voters who possibly can to vote in person, on Election Day, at their assigned polling place. This is the only way to get the most accurate and timely results of any election.
As long as we have such large numbers of "envelope" ballots, EIPCa asks that ALL CITIZENS consider being part of a team in each county that provides constant oversight during the processing of mail, provisional and conditional ballots. Our presence will provide incentive for workers to do a more careful and thorough job and protect each ballot and its voter from wrongful rejection while also protecting legitimate votes from being cancelled out or watered down by ballots that should not be counted.
Any citizen can observe the process at any time without special training, permission or advance notice. However, EIPCa provides an online, 65-minute training that may prepare people to be better and more effective observers. Contact us at www.eip-ca.com for more information.
Is it possible that "Candidate X" could be responsible for manipulating the results of the election in order to win?
One of the strengths of our electoral process is its diversity. Each state has its own unique process and election code unconnected to those of any other state. And within each state, each county maintains stand-alone processes unique and unconnected to other counties. Voting and counting machines are not connected to each other or to the internet. While individual machines are potentially "hackable", the idea that a countywide, let alone a statewide election could be rigged or fixed in such a manner is ludicrous. While there would be a multitude of things a candidate's organization could do to garner more votes lawfully, unlawfully or unethically, a vote count would have to be remarkably close for such efforts to swing a statewide election.
That said, a corrupted county "political machine", especially if the county is highly populated, could indeed make such a difference, as could a well-placed corrupted state "political machine". This question is at the heart of the EIPCa lawsuit, carried by Judicial Watch, against both the CA Secretary of State and the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters.
The takeaway in the answers to these questions and many others is that we can no longer afford to "let somebody else do it". Each and every citizen must be involved in some way with the Election Integrity Project California. Each and every citizen must step out of their comfort zone to the highest level of involvement possible:
- Observation Volunteer (virtually EVERYONE can do at least this)
- Member of Community Coordination Team
- Member of County Coordination Team
- Member of Regional Coordination Team
And each and every citizen who values the work of the Election Integrity Project California must remember that we cannot continue the work without consistent and generous donations (now tax-exempt).