San Joaquin County hosts open house for voter transparency
STOCKTON — San Joaquin County hosted an open house Tuesday and it's all to show transparency in how ballots are processed.
This came after a voter fraud case in Lodi earlier this year that sent shockwaves through the county.
Any San Joaquin County voter was welcome at the open house event and got a sneak peek into what will happen to their ballot come November.
Ahead of the event, Olivia Hale, the San Joaquin County registrar of voters, gave me a behind-the-scenes look at what voters would see—a look inside where your ballot goes, and how it's verified.
"There are several steps to what's done with the ballot once it returns to our office," Hale said.
Every single ballot that comes through San Joaquin County is going to go through a signature verification machine. It takes your name and address, verifies your signature and runs it through to verify that you are who you say you are. Then after it is spit out from the machine, it's sorted out of bins and a worker will tally your vote.
"This is the public's election and it's very important to us as election officials that everything is open and transparent," Hale said.
Hale added that being open to the public is necessary during this November election.
Earlier this year, dozens of mail-in ballots were found stashed in a former city councilmember's home.
"In light of some of the concerns around fraud in our county, we took that very seriously," Hale said.
While some voters appreciate the transparency, others like Marcus Riddle still won't vote.
"It was fun at one point but this year, I don't think I'm going to vote. It's sad but I just don't know who to trust no more," Riddle said. "I don't know if it really counts anymore."
If there are any duplicates for voter addresses or something seems off, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office will investigate any potential voter fraud cases.
Ballots are set to go out in early October.