The San Luis Obispo County Elections Office is always open on the Saturday before an election, but this year is a little different.
Christina Witt dropped off her ballot for the June primary early Saturday morning at San Luis Obispo County’s elections office.
“I wanted to just have that in-person feeling for this election, I felt it was a little bit more important because of the controversies that are involved," Witt said.
This is the first year the elections office is required to be open for 6 hours the Saturday before an election, but it’s been a longstanding tradition in SLO County.
Erin Clausen is the public information officer for the elections office.
“We're just trying to make things as easy on the voters as possible," Clausen said. "Anything we can do, so much of what we do is prescribed by law. So when we're able to kind of look at process or something and use our discretion and resources to try and make it easier on a voter, then that's what we do.”
Though not many people came by Saturday morning, plenty was going on behind the scenes. The elections office held a training for inspectors and people working the call center on Election Day, inspectors picked up supplies, and poll workers counted votes.
Clausen said they don’t have a choice but to get a jump start on the ballots.
“State law now requires us to count all of our ballots, with the exception of those that need signature carrying and a few special cases, within 13 days of the election," Clausen said.
Clausen said before, the office had 30 days to count what they’re now expected to in 13. Since SLO County mainly votes by mail, they had to get new technology to help with the demand.
“What it does is help us scan those returned vote-by-mail ballots quicker," Clausen said. "We used to have two small machines that kind of did it. Well, but slowly. This now pumps through way faster, sorts them, and helps us capture those signatures and get them through to the signature verifiers much faster.”
Witt said she’s confident in her local elections office to meet the new requirement.
“It puts probably a lot of pressure on our elections officials, and I'm sure they'll be able to get it done," Witt said. "We have such great staff here at the recorder's office.”
