By james art 
How can you make sure your ballot is in good hands after you cast it in the Nov. 5 general election in San Bernardino County?
Stephanie Shay, who oversees San Bernardino County Elections as Registrar of Voters, gave a media tour Monday, Oct. 28, of the San Bernardino Ballot Processing Site to highlight the strict measures that are in place to ensure the safety and security of elections in San Bernardino County.
Before the ballots even reach the processing site, Shea explained some of the basic precautions taken to ensure they are safe at their drop off location.
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“Drop boxes are safe,” she said. “The outer boxes are made of 18-gauge steel, bolted from the inside, and have cameras on those boxes. Not only that, they are placed in high visibility, high traffic areas and these bulletins are collected regularly.
Earlier this year, the county doubled down on security at its ballot boxes after the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to install wireless cameras at about 70 ballot drop-off locations throughout the county.
Before this decision, about half of the drop boxes in the county were already placed in locations monitored by existing cameras.
“We cannot predict how long it will take to obtain the necessary approvals for non-county-owned sites, so unfortunately we cannot guarantee the timing of all camera installations,” Shea wrote shortly after the July 9 decision. “However, the Register of Electors is committed to this project, even if it extends beyond the 2024 general election.”
Once your ballot is retrieved — by mail, from the box or in person — the counting process begins: When the ballots arrive at the San Bernardino Registrar of Voters office, the returned envelopes are first mechanically sorted, their barcodes scanned and signatures photographed. The ballots are then removed from the return envelopes and checked to make sure there are no obvious problems.
The ballots are then taken to a more restricted area – staff here have different colored vests to indicate they are allowed in that area – where the ballots are fed into sorting machines. The ballots are then scanned at high speed by computers that check that the circles voters fill in to make their choice are filled in correctly.
Watch the Clerk of Voters answer common questions about election security
When the computer discards a ballot that is not properly filled out, a two-person team examines each ballot, trying to determine whether it is clear what the voter intended to do. If not, the voter will be in touch directly to help clear things up.
Finally, the votes are collected on computers that are interconnected but not connected to the Internet. Computers are wiped and software installed fresh before each selection to erase any possible computer problems. Like other rooms where the ballots are processed, no one is allowed to be alone in the counting room and it is monitored by surveillance cameras and has large picture windows so observers can see everything that happens inside .
If a ballot needs to be “corrected” — usually due to missing or mismatched signatures — the voter has until 5:00 p.m. two days before the county certifies the election results. Counties are required to certify their election results and submit them to the secretary of state no later than Dec. 3, but when they expect to complete the process can vary by county office.
If you receive this notice, you can fill out a form to provide a signature and verify that you voted with your ballot, according to the Secretary of State.
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