How to resolve AdBlock issue? The preliminary vote counts reported on election night are far from final, and getting to the final election numbers is the process Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley and her staff are now undertaking, one that includes a number of checks and balances.
“The process of certifying election results, also known as the official canvass, is mandated by state law to make sure the public can have confidence in the integrity of the final results,” Fridley said in her Wednesday update.
While Fridley said her office won’t be updating the election count until it’s finalized, she did give an update on the number of ballots to be counted during the official canvass and offered a breakdown by district.
She told the Board of Supervisors at its budget hearings this week that there is an increasing trend of absentee voters waiting to the last minute to vote, which results in her staff having more ballots to count during the official canvass period.
The updated number of vote-by-mail – or absentee – ballots remaining to be counted during the official canvass period is as follows:
– Vote-by-Mail, or VBM, ballots remaining to be processed and counted: 5,289.
– Provisional ballots issued at the polls: 524.
– Conditional voter registration provisional ballots: 62.
– VBM ballots that require further review for various reasons: 187.
– Grand total: 6,062.
Fridley explained that “polls provisional ballots” are cast at the polling places on Election Day.
She said there are a variety of reasons a voter is issued a provisional ballot, including the voter’s name being highlighted on the active voter roster list as a vote-by-mail voter and the poll worker being unable to verify if the voter has returned his or her vote-by-mail ballot; the voter has moved and the new address doesn’t match the Active voter roster list or the voter moved within the county but did not re-register to vote at his/her new address; voter is voting in the wrong voting precinct and not his/her assigned voting precinct; the voter is required to provide ID, but is unable to do so; and the voter’s eligibility to vote cannot be determined by the poll worker.
Fridley said “conditional voter registration provisional ballots” can only be issued to a person personally visiting the Lake County Registrar of Voters no later than the close of the polls (prior to 8 p.m.) on Election Day. These voters are Lake County residents who miss the voter registration deadline but they still have the option to vote in an election by conditionally registering to vote and casting a provisional ballot.
Fridley said polls provisional ballots, conditional voter registration provisional ballots and vote-by-mail ballots requiring further review may be entirely counted, partially counted or not counted.
The breakdown of ballots remaining to be counted by countywide offices, congressional districts, Supervisorial Districts 2 and 3, unincorporated county-Measure G, and Community Services District-Measure F is as follows:
– Countywide offices: 5,476 VBM and 586 provisional.
– Congressional District 3: 2,260 VBM and 276 provisional.
– Congressional District 5: 3,216 VBM and 310 provisional.
– County Supervisor District 2: 605 VBM and 80 provisional.
– County Supervisor District 3: 1,024 VBM and 131 provisional.
– County of Lake - Measure “G”: 4,233 VBM and 445 provisional.
– Butler-Keys CSD – Measure “F”: 16 VBM and 0 provisional.
Fridley’s office has 30 days from Election Day to complete the official canvass and certify the final election results.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
