Why does it take weeks to count ballots? The journey of a single ballot

June 18, 2016 - It's not widely known among the public that election officials in California have 30 days to complete ballot counting following Election Day. Why so long? Volume, volume, volume. Take for instance the journey of a single "ballot" - here's how it unfolds:

1. "Ballot" is received by us through the USPS
2. "Ballot", along with tens of thousands, begins a journey in its envelope through a high-speed scanner, which will "take a picture" of the back of the envelope that contains the voter's signature
3. "Ballot" is then set aside in a holding pattern while files of all of the digital images are prepared for review
4. "Ballot" image is then sent to dozens of operators who will look at the signature on the envelope (four at a time on a screen by the way) and compare it to the signature we have on file from the original voter registration
5. "Ballot" is rejected in the initial review because the signature does not match - the data is held along with tens of thousands of other ballots
6. "Ballot" comes out of the holding pattern and back through the high speed scanners, still in its sealed envelope, where the barcode is now scanned, along with, you guessed it - tens of thousands of other ballots
7. "Ballot" is out-sorted to its own bin because it needs to go to a second tier review for a closer examination of the signature
8. "Ballot" travels in a tray, along with other ballots, to the second tier for review
9. "Ballot" sits for a bit because the second tier review takes time - any voter would want that to ensure a valid ballot is counted
10. "Ballot" is determined eligible in the system and heads back to the high-speed scanners
11. "Ballot" is put through the high-speed scanner again but this time the barcode signals to move the ballot to a "good" bin, which outsorts it for opening
12. "Ballot" moves in a tray to a series of automated openers, which splits the envelope open and automatically extracts the ballot, while staying with its fellow ballots from its own precinct
13. "Ballot" moves, along with tens of thousands, to a sorting station where the "ballot" is flattened by hand in preparation for scanning
14. "Ballot" is moved to a second sorting station where it is placed in "batches" for scanning, but not before one last check is made for any staples, or paper clips, or other items that could damage a scanner
15. "Ballot" is scanned at high speed along with thousands of other ballots, where properly marked votes are automatically tallied by voting system
16. "Ballot" barcode was accidentally marked through by the voter so scanner rejects the ballot on the first pass
17. "Ballot" is pulled later due to the reject and heads into the manual duplication room
18. "Ballot" votes are placed onto a blank ballot, with good barcodes (the barcodes are needed to orient the ballot from top to bottom and left to right, to ensure it is read properly)
19. "Ballot" goes back into scan room and is scanned and read properly, recording the vote
20. Data from "ballot" is extracted from data card and placed into Tally system for addition into total votes cast
21. "Ballot" vote shows up as one of tens of thousands of votes online for the public to see.

Multiply this times hundreds of thousands, do the math on the time, and now you understand why it takes weeks to count ballots. This system has evolved over decades through laws, regulations and efficient operations to ensure precise counting of every vote is tallied. This is proven every election through multiple layers of audits on a federally and state certified system.