Election Day is underway, and the record number of early voters will make a difference in the results we see in Multnomah County. Officials already had gathered many ballots and started picking them up again 7 a.m. Tuesday — just the first step on their journey toward being counted for this election.
The room dedicated to verifying ballots and voters' signatures will be running 24/7 to pre-process ballots until the last ballot arrives. This verification process typically takes up until 3 a.m. on Wednesday, the day after the election. But the Multnomah County Elections Director said counting ballots won't begin until Tuesday evening.
"Because we're usually caught up by Monday night, we don't have shifts starting until later in the day and that's because we know we're going to go all the way into the night, so we need people to be fresh," said Elections Director Tim Scott.
Voters and election officials have a heightened focus on ensuring the security of this election. This year, KOIN 6 News — news partner of Pamplin Media Group — was given a behind-the-scenes look at how Multnomah County processes every voter's ballot.
It begins at the drop box, where an election official will collect it and bring it into "The Sorting Room." Inside is a machine that verifies two things: it checks that the nine-digit code on the ballot is valid, and it checks the voter's signature. Signatures that match the voter's registration get sorted into green bins, while signatures that don't match are put aside in yellow bins that will go to forensic experts for a second check.
Ballots in the green bins then head to the room tasked with opening hundreds of thousands of ballots. One machine helps open the envelopes, while others unfold the ballots and stack them into boxes. To make sure no ballot was accidentally stuck inside an envelope, those envelopes are saved and zip tied through the precut holes in the corners.
Finally, ballots are moved to another secure room not connected to the internet where they get scanned into the system. Votes are recorded onto the servers before they are secured onto password-protected USB drives.
"And then, at 8 p.m. on election night, we're able to push that button that releases the results," Scott said.
During presidential elections, these counting sites are backed by security alarms, as well as on-site security guards.
For election workers, the first 12-hour shift to count ballots starts at 4 p.m. Tuesday. That's followed by back-to-back 12-hour shifts from that point on, going into Wednesday if need be.
However, for the first time ever in Multnomah County's election history, they will be releasing a record number of early voter results. In years past, at 8 p.m. on election night, officials usually release around 50% of the total ballots cast, but since so many people voted early this year, they anticipate releasing nearly 80% of the votes by 8 p.m. Tuesday night. This will go a long way in answering questions about how a specific race is going to go, unless, of course, that race is really close.
