How Arapahoe County election officials in Colorado are ensuring a safe and secure election
Election Day is less than two weeks away, and right now, election officials and judges in Colorado are working to ensure your vote is safe and the process is secure.
Arapahoe County election officials gave CBS Colorado a behind-the-scenes tour of the elections facility to show how they're able to keep that promise.
After you drop off your ballot at one of the 37 drop box locations across Arapahoe County, a pair of bipartisan election judges then pick up the ballots in sealed boxes. It's just the first part of the process and a job election judges take very seriously.
"It's a very important job," said Elsie Tapp, an election judge.
Every election, Tapp works closely with Laurie Regan, another election judge. The two are a bipartisan pair who have worked eight elections together.
"Today, we are opening ballots. We've been doing it now for two days," said Tapp.
"Knowing how important it is to democracy, make your voice heard," said Regan, when asked why she works for the elections time after time.
Before the ballot-filled envelopes get to their hands though, bipartisan teams pick up ballots from the drop boxes and the county's 32 Voter Service and Polling Centers and drop them off at the elections facility.
"The next step of the process will be weighing those ballots to get an approximate count from each of the locations they brought them back from," said Tom Skelley, the Senior Communications Business Partner with the Arapahoe County Clerk and Recorder's Office.
Skelley said the envelopes then go through a sorting device that can process up to 18,000 envelopes per hour. Every voter in Colorado has a bar code specific to them, and that bar code is unique and never repeated. When the envelope with the ballot is scanned, people who track their ballot will get the first notification that their ballot has been received.
"There is camera here that's taking a photo of every voter's signature on the back of the ballot envelope. What this machine does with that signature, is it overlays it over the last signature on file we have for that voter," said Skelley.
About 60% of the ballots are accepted by the signature verification software, while the others with a signature discrepancy get verified by an election judge.
After that, a team of bipartisan election judges count each of the envelopes to make sure there are 100 in each batch, and then they open them and flatten the ballots.
"We both have to stay at the table. One of us can't leave because we're bipartisan teams, it adds to the safety and security of them," said Regan.
Election judges are also checking ballots that might be damaged, or filled out in a colored ink that could be an issue when the ballot gets scanned. Those ballots are placed aside, and election judges will go through those ballots with a voter intent guide from the Colorado Secretary of State's Office. If a voter makes a mistake on a ballot, their votes will still be counted. It might just take a little longer for it to be processed.
On election night, the ballots will be tabulated and sent through a secure portal to the Colorado Secretary of State's Office, which will then show the results online.
"I can 100% guarantee it's secure. We have so many checks and balances, and I'm happy to be part of democracy," said Regan. "Until you really see the process, it gives you more reassurance about the security.
If you are mailing in a ballot, it's recommended that you do so by Monday to make sure it is received on time. In Colorado, you can also drop your ballot off at any drop box location in the state, and election judges will make sure it gets to the right county to be processed.
