BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Kern County election officials say mail-in ballot returns are tracking at expected levels ahead of the upcoming primary election, with security measures including drop boxes, surveillance cameras, and strict chain-of-custody procedures in place.
Laura Cantu, assistant registrar of voters for Kern County, said primary election turnout is typically low, ranging from 30 to 40%.
The office began assisting voters 29 days before the election, including helping those who needed to reissue ballots or required accessible ballot marking devices.
Voters who have already received their mail-in ballot have several options to return it:
Drop it in the U.S. mail
Use any of the 20 official drop boxes located throughout the county
Return it in person to the registrar's office, which has both a 24/7 outdoor drop box and an internal drop box
Drop it off at any of the more than 90 poll sites throughout the county on election day — voters are not required to go to their home precinct
Cantu said voters concerned about their ballot being lost or tampered with in the mail should sign up for BallotTrax through the California Secretary of State's website.
"Sign up for ballot tracks if you do want to use the mail — sign up for ballot tracks anyway," Cantu said.
She said the service sends notifications when a ballot is mailed out, when it enters the postal return stream, and when it arrives and is processed at the registrar's office.
Security measures
Cantu said the office maintains strict security protocols throughout the ballot handling process.
"Our process is secure. I'm very confident with our process," Cantu said.
Drop boxes are secured with tamper-proof seals, and staff collect returns from all 20 boxes daily using chain-of-custody forms. The boxes are also monitored via live stream.
Inside the office, surveillance cameras and badge card access restrict entry to rooms housing the voting system and vote-by-mail ballots. A two-person rule is enforced at all times — no single person is ever left alone with voted ballots or in any room containing the voting system.
Why do election results take time?
Cantu said the first results released on election night — typically around 8:10 p.m. — reflect all vote-by-mail ballots received and processed before election day. She said ballots received by Friday before the election are generally included in that first count.
Poll site returns from across the county are collected and counted on election night, with the final poll site results reported around 12:30 to 1 a.m. Kern County's size plays a role in that timeline — Ridgecrest, the county's most distant community, is about 2 hours away, and teams are sent to retrieve those ballots and bring them back to the office.
After election night, the office continues processing vote-by-mail ballots received in the days leading up to and including election day. Cantu said that the window — the three days before the election through election day itself — accounts for roughly 30 to 40% of total ballots received, which can range from 50,000 to 80,000 ballots.
"It takes time to get through," Cantu said. "We have a mail sorter. We're putting all of those thousands of mail pieces through the sorter, signature verifying every single piece."
After sorting and signature verification, staff open each envelope, extract the ballot, and then count it. Cantu said vote-by-mail processing is typically completed 3 to 5 days after the election.
Under California law, the office must also accept ballots postmarked by election day and received within 7 days after. Once that window closes, the office begins processing provisional ballots.
Provisional ballots are cast when a voter's name does not appear in the poll site roster. Each provisional ballot requires a manual review to confirm the voter's eligibility and determine which ballot style they should have received. The office also processes conditional voter registrations — voters who registered on election day.
Double voting
Cantu said it does happen that voters mail in their ballot and then also show up to vote in person on election day, often out of concern that their mailed ballot was not received in time.
"It happens, but we can catch that," Cantu said.
She said if a ballot has already been counted, it cannot be retroactively tied back to the voter's identity. However, if the office identifies that a voter has already voted, the duplicate ballot is set aside and not counted.
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