LAKEPORT, Calif. — In response to numerous requests for information from members of the media and public regarding the Nov. 5 election process and expectations for the canvass period, Lake County Registrar of Voters Maria Valadez provided an explanation of the process.

Valadez said she was giving the statement “in the interest of ensuring staff can focus on delivering reliable election results as soon as possible.”

The following is Valadez’s complete statement.

California County Election Officials now provide all registered voters a Vote-By-Mail ballot, and my office is committed to ensuring every eligible resident is aware of their opportunities to vote. While some voters cast their ballots ahead of Election Day, many wait until campaigns have fully concluded.

Final certification of election results, particularly for Primary and General Presidential Elections, takes time. It is essential the public has full faith in the final reported election results, and the methods and means it takes to certify those results. The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office takes these responsibilities very seriously; while we work as quickly as we can within staffing and resource limitations, accuracy and reliability are our highest priorities.

Extra verification steps must be taken before each Vote-By-Mail ballot can be officially counted.

Each signature on a Vote-By-Mail ballot envelope must be compared with that voter’s signature on file before it can even be opened. If the signature does not match, or the voter failed to sign their ID envelope, additional review and extra steps must be undertaken to contact the voter to allow them the opportunity to cure the issue with their signature. These voters have until December 1, 2024, by 5 p.m., to respond to the notice (two days prior to final certification), and the volume of votes cast in this manner creates a significant workload for our relatively limited staff. Our four permanent full-time staff are working 40-70 hours per week, at present, and eight Extra Help staff are working 30-70 hours, to complete this work as quickly as possible.

Vote-By-Mail ballots received (and whose signatures were verified) early were included in the first batch of results released shortly after 8 p.m. on Election Night. Updates provided on Election Night reflected ballots cast in-person at polling places. Getting those ballots to our office required two election workers, from each location, to safely and reliably transport ballots back to our office for processing and counting. The last two poll workers reached our office shortly after 1:30 a.m. Over Election Night and the early morning hours following, staff processed and counted over 2,000 ballots.

Once the final Election Day unofficial results were posted, staff spent the next two days organizing and preparing for post-Election Day work to finalize results and ultimately certify the election. California State law provides for a post-Election Day Canvass period of up to 30 days to certify most elections, and 28 days for a Presidential Election. Therefore, the 2024 General Presidential Election must be certified no later than December 3, 2024.

During the Canvass period, staff continues processing Vote-By-Mail ballots and applying voter history to those who voted in-person at their assigned polling place. In addition, our office is required to conduct a 1% manual tally of the votes cast and reported on the final Election Day results. This process, alone, took two days for staff to complete.

Vote-By-Mail ballots mailed to our office at the last minute can, by law, be accepted up to seven days following Election Day, as long as the envelope has an Election Day postmark. Of course, voters are encouraged to mail their ballots early or drop them off at Official Drop Boxes or the Lake County Registrar of Voters’ office. California voters may also return their Vote-By-Mail ballot to any Elections Office, Official Drop Box, Polling Place or Vote Center in California, which adds time before election officials can certify results.

In addition to voting by mail and voting in-person at a polling place, California offers Provisional Voting and Conditional Voter Registration (also known as Same Day Registration). Polls Provisional Ballots are cast at the Polling Places on Election Day. Reasons a voter may be issued a Provisional Ballot include:

• The voter is unable to surrender their Vote-By-Mail ballot to be issued a polls ballot;
• The voter’s name is not printed on the Roster-Index and/or the voter has moved and did not re-register to vote at their new residence address;
• A voter presents to a precinct other than their assigned voting precinct;
• A first-time voter required to provide ID is unable to do so; or
• The voter’s eligibility cannot be confirmed by the poll worker.

Conditional Voter Registration ballots are issued those who missed the regular voter registration deadline of October 21, but retain the option to vote in an Election by conditionally registering and casting a conditional ballot (i.e., “same-day voter registration”).

Provisional and Conditional ballots cannot be processed until after all Vote-By-Mail ballots have been processed and in-person history has been applied to ensure no voter has voted more than once.

As described here, there are many steps our office must complete to complete to certify an election. We provided unofficial election results on November 14, and will continue doing so once a week throughout the Canvass period, until the election is certified.

Staff and leadership are working evenings, weekends and holidays, and are committed to accurate and timely completion of our final certified results. We are committed to ensuring all legal requirements are met, and the integrity and transparency of the election process meets the highest of standards.

We understand and appreciate the interest many have in certified election results being delivered as soon as possible; as Registrar, I can confirm staff are working as quickly as possible while ensuring the results are reliable and accurate.

While all California Counties face the same requirements, Lake County’s resource limitations have meant our process regularly takes longer. Thank you for your continued patience as the Canvass process is dutifully completed.