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The election canvass
process is an internal audit and is required by state law to
ensure the accuracy of election results. California election
law allows 28 days for the conduct of the official canvass.
All aspects of the canvass are open to public inspection.
During the canvass, absentee and provisional ballots not
counted on election night are researched to validate
eligibility. The canvass concludes with the certification
and issuance of official election results. Listed below are
the major components of the official canvass. |
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Roster Reconciliation
Following the close of the polls election night, precinct
officers are responsible for completing the Official Ballot
Statement. The statement lists the exact number of voted
ballots, unused ballots, spoiled ballots, roster signatures,
etc. As part of the official canvass, the number of
signatures indicated by the inspector on the roster is
compared to the number of ballots tabulated by the computer
tally system. |
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1% Manual Vote Tally
All voted ballots from a randomly selected 1% of the
precincts are manually tallied and balanced against the
computer counts to verify the accuracy of the election tally
system. This process is required by law. |
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Ballots Added During Official Canvass
The following ballots are withheld from the tally system on
election night. Once eligibility is determined, these
ballots are added to the election results. Withheld ballot
types include: |
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1. |
Absentee Ballots
returned on election day to our office and dropped off
at polling locations. These ballots do not arrive in
sufficient time to be individually signature-verified,
opened and prepared for tabulation on election night. |
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2. |
Damaged Ballots
that are unable to be processed through the election
tally system and, therefore, must be manually
duplicated prior to tabulation. |
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3. |
Provisional Ballots and Fail-Safe
Ballots
issued at the voting locations on Election Day must be
individually researched to determine eligibility and
is a time-consuming process. Provisional ballots are
issued at polling locations when a person's voter
registration cannot immediately be authorized.
Fail-safe ballots are issued when a Stanislaus County
voter moves within the county, but fails to
re-register before the close of registration.
On Election Day, each voted provisional
and fail-safe ballot is placed in a special blue
envelope so that they can be separated from the
regular voted ballots. On election night they are
transported to the tally center in Modesto, with all
the other ballots. During the canvass period after
election night, each provisional and fail-safe ballot
is researched to determine eligibility of the voter.
Since there may be several hundreds involved, it takes
time to carefully check each one through the computer
registration files. After the determination is made
and if the voter is qualified to vote, their ballots
are added to the overall total for the election. |
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4. |
Write-In Ballots
must be individually reviewed to determine if the
write-in vote is for a qualified or unqualified
write-in candidate and whether or not the voter also
voted for a candidate listed on the ballot for the
same office (i.e. over voted the ballot.) |
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| Disclaimer: The information contained in these pages
was valid at the time of publication. The Clerk-Recorder
/Registrar
of Voters reserves the right to modify, update, change
or make improvements at any time, without notice,
and assumes
no liability for damages incurred directly or indirectly
as a result of errors, omissions or discrepancies. |
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