Pathways of Votes California: II

Stop and Drop

Your Vote by Mail ballot doesn’t need to be surrendered to the tender mercies of the U.S. Postal Service whose back delivery docks at post offices are open and have been robbed. You can complete your ballot at home, seal and sign the barcoded unique envelope, the take it to your nearest Vote Center to drop in the Yellow Ballot Bag in the custody of a sworn election worker. This locked sealed bag is taken at the end of each election day to the Registrar of Voters office by two election workers. Here the envelope will be scanned by machine so that your signature on the envelope can be verified by election workers. The still-sealed envelope with your vote then goes to another machine which slices open the envelope. That combination then goes to another room where election workers separate the envelope and ballot. The folded ballot must be flattened, then transferred to a final room where the ballots are scanned and tabulated by a computerized machine. Any ballots damaged by the ma…