Give Me Fast Food, But Take the Time to Count the Votes

The reason for the slower vote count is that Alameda County has “returned to the future.” Paper ballots are being used because of late certification of electronic voting machines and questions about their reliability. Because the decision was made late, there are not enough optical scanners to process the votes as quickly as some would like.

Personally, I think it is far more important to accurately count each vote rather than have instantaneous results. I am also more worried about the shortage of poll workers and the snafus that can result in some folks not being able to vote.

According to the Secretary of State, 3.8 million absentee ballots were issued, and as of Thursday only 935,000 had been returned. Those that were returned early will be among the first vote totals to be released, including in Alameda County. But those that are dropped off at the polls or County Registrar of Voters offices close to the election or on election day will probably be the last to be counted. Signatures on the envelopes must be verified before the ballots can be counted. That is a laborious process.

If the Secretary of State’s prediction of a 38% voter turnout is accurate, even if all absentee ballots are not returned, they will be a large proportion of the 6 million or so votes cast.

It is likely that there will be delays in some of the vote counting for other currently unforeseen reasons, and there will be “provisional ballots”—those cast by voters where it is unclear at the polling place whether they will be allowed to be counted—that will be dealt with later.