Behind the Scenes at Election Headquarters

This year, the San Mateo County Elections Office was tasked with processing over 220,000 ballots. Appointments to tour the facility are open to the public; so, on November 3rd, we decided to see the place for ourselves.

The building is sometimes referred to as “Tower,” which is a shortening of its address at 40 Tower Road, and an apt nickname for the large command center. Our guide, Hillary, wore a cream sweater and a big smile. She’s worked at the office for sixteen years. She led us across its concrete floor, around cubicles, past workers, an unloading station, and a machine she called “the beast.” Hillary explained a few of the safeguards in place for election security. Two person integrity is an important policy which ensures that sensitive materials aren’t left with a single person at any time. Ballots in federal elections must be kept for 22 months (there are different time frames for local elections). Some materials must be kept longer; sample ballots are stored for twenty years and then transferred to an archive.

Hillary taught me the distinction between machine adjudication and manual adjudication. Once it's time to note how someone voted (actual metrics are not tabulated until 8pm on Election Day), the ballot can be fed to a machine or assessed by a person. I was surprised to hear that, during Governor Gavin Newsom’s recall election, many Democrats voted “No” and did not select a replacement candidate, which were technically “undervotes” that had to be manually adjudicated.

Hillary spoke with passion and experience. We asked her why voting matters, and she responded readily: “It affects every aspect of your life. People get all excited about presidential elections and gubernatorial elections, but it’s the school boards and [city councils] that affect your daily life.” She added, “Voting is for the greater good. When I retired from the Coast Guard, I was looking for a job that gave me the same satisfaction and the same sense of purpose, and that’s what I found here.”