This is how Utah's ballots get from your table into the tabulation

OGDEN – As of Halloween Day, more than 600,000 Utah residents had cast their votes in the Nov. 5 election, the vast majority by mail or drop box.

KSL TV visited the Weber County Election Center to look at the steps and security features that go into getting a ballot from the kitchen table to the tabulation.

“We pay attention to every detail every step of the way,” said Weber County Clerk Ricky Hatch.

Ballot security begins before a ballot even reaches the voter's home. Utah maintains a database of voters called voter rolls that are updated daily as voters move, die or change addresses.

There are currently nearly 1.8 million active registered voters in Utah.

“The term ‘universal absentee ballot’ simply doesn’t apply in Utah because we don’t send it out everywhere,” Hatch said.

Ballots will only be mailed to active registered voters. Inactive voters are those who have not taken part in two consecutive federal elections.

“(Active voters are) just certain voters who have proven to us that they live where they say they live and that they are who they say they are,” he said.

Two election workers check ballot papers. (KSL TV)

A series of steps with security features along the way

Once a ballot is placed in a mailbox, poll workers pick up the ballot and return it to the clerk's office. Poll workers must work in teams of two, and the bags are logged and sealed with zip ties to alert officials if they have been tampered with.

Each county has slightly different processes, but ballots are also tracked – in Weber County by GPS.

Once safely inside, poll workers will remove the privacy tabs from the envelope that show the voter's signature.

An Agilis voting machine sorts the ballots into batches and performs a first pass verifying those signatures. If a signature cannot be read, it is sent out for verification by teams of poll workers. The signatures are checked a total of three times before they are added to a so-called healing list so that voters can be contacted. Signature checks are also carried out to check the accuracy of the verification.

A machine then opens the ballot papers and a poll worker separates the ballot paper from the envelope.

The area of ​​the machine where ballots are sorted. (KSL TV)

The envelope is the main part of the ballot that contains voter identifying information. The ballot paper itself only has a district number.

Once the ballot is separated from the envelope, it would be difficult to identify which voter belonged to that ballot. The ballot envelope also contains a 9-digit code that is unique to the voter and the election. So even if multiple ballots were sent to a house for a single voter, only one could be voted for.

There are also marks on the ballot that prevent voters from casting their vote by mail and in person.

The ballot paper is prepared and scanned

After ballots are sorted into batches and logged, they are flattened and then sent to a scanner. The scanner creates a digital image of the front and back of the ballot.

“Then it essentially stores that in a line in a table or a line in a file that says, 'Here's this ballot, here's the precinct.' And here’s how they voted for each race,” Hatch said. This record is called the “Cast Vote Record.”

A poll worker inserts the ballot papers into the scanner. (KSL TV)

Each night, votes cast are fed into a locked computer using an encrypted flash drive. According to Hatch, these flash drives are made in the USA and each one is cleaned, logged and kept under lock and key after each use.

The tabulation room is also under lock and key and the machine's hardware and software are checked with a kind of digital fingerprint that detects any irregularities.

“This (tabulating computer) is not connected to anything. No county network, no internet, no Bluetooth, anything. It’s also under review,” Hatch said.

When the polls close on election night, the results will be displayed at the push of a button.

“You click print and it pops up and that’s it,” Hatch said.

The USBs with voter information in a secure room. (KSL TV)

What if the sorting machine can't recognize who you voted for?

The process of determining a voter's intent is called adjudication. Any ballots that the machine cannot scan will be reviewed by a team of poll workers. Two workers discuss the markings and whether they can clearly see a voter's intent. In Weber County, a third person recorded their conversation.

“If the team approved it or changed it (we know) who the team was. And we also have superiors in this process. Overall, this is a critical part. This is an area where poll workers can actually change the voice of voters,” Hatch said.

A team of three poll workers checks a ballot paper for the intentions of its voters. (KSL TV)

The race being decided upon is segregated so that workers cannot see the voices of other races. Election workers are also trained.

Processing ballots is a detailed process with multiple steps, but a county official says there are many checks in place.

“Every poll worker – we care about the counting of your votes as much as you do,” Hatch said.

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