Explainer: Want meaningful results on election night in Nevada County? Here are your options

NEVADA CITY, Calif. October 25, 2017 – The November 6th General Election is less than two weeks away and voting has begun in Nevada County. 69,052 vote by mail ballots were issued to registered voters and as of this morning 10,267 voted ballots have been received by the Elections Office.

On November 6th, election results will start to be released after the close of polls at 8:00 p.m. How meaningful the last election night update will be is entirely up to Nevada County voters.

Vote Early

If your mind is made up and the ballot is ready to go, just mail it in (no postage needed) or drop it off at one of the Vote Centers or Drop-Off locations. The complete list of these locations can be found here. You can check if your ballot has been received by the Elections Office here. Your ballot, once accepted, will be scanned but not tabulated until after the close of polls on election night. All the ballots processed make up the first results on election.

But what about last minute revelations aka “The October Surprise”?

If you prefer to hold on to your ballot until the deadline, that’s perfectly fine too. You can wait until November 6th and still have your vote counted on election night. How? Easy, just vote in person.

The Voters Choice Act gives voters more choice on how, when, and where they vote.

Grab your vote by mail ballot on election day, stop at any voting center throughout Nevada County and exchange your ballot for an in-person ballot.

This will ensure your vote is counted on Election night and not during the 28-day canvass period following the election. Also, you will get your “I voted” sticker and “that polling place feeling.”

California Elections Code section 14000 allows workers up to two hours off, without a loss of pay, to vote if they do not have enough time to do so in their non-work hours. The law requires workers to notify their employers two working days before the election if they need to take time off to vote.

Why does it take “so long” to count vote by mail ballots dropped off on elections day?

The first results released during the June 5th Primary election were comprised of 14,416 ballots mailed or dropped off in the days ahead of the election. At the end of the night, 16,346 votes had been counted. On June 20th, the final results were released and 38,792 ballots had been tallied. While it only took two weeks to complete the count, many people wanted to know why it took “so long” to count the votes. Actually, the canvass was completed earlier than in previous elections.

The steps involved in processing a vote by mail ballot:

• After removing the security flap, the signature on the ballot is verified.
• If the signature matches, the envelope is opened.
• The ballot is then sorted into the district (precinct) and batched together with ballots from the same district.
• The batch is scanned by an optical scanner.
• The batch result is tabulated, spot checked and then added to the tally.
• The election results are updated.

Many of these steps are carried out by more than one Election staff person and multiple checks are in place to preserve the integrity of your vote.

If you want to know on election night who will be the next Sheriff, NID Director or Councilmember, avail yourself of the options you have. Don’t wait until election day to drop off a vote by mail ballot. Vote in person at a vote center, even on weekends – starting this Saturday at the Elections Office in Nevada City and the Truckee Town Hall – or mail your ballot in.

To the 58,785 voters whose ballots are outstanding: Please vote.