According to the Contra Costa County Clerk Recorder Office, it can take several weeks to certify an election.
The county’s elections website explains that nearly half of all vote-by-mail ballots cast are returned and counted before Election Day while the rest of them are received on Election Day through the mail or returned at polling places and drop-off locations. Ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days of the election are also counted. These ballots are expected to be processed and added to the vote total on the Friday after the election.
Provisional ballots
About 5% of all ballots cast are provisional ballots — ballots of people whose names didn’t appear to be registered to vote. Provisional ballots are examined after all vote-by-mail and polling place voters have been given credit for voting. If a voter who cast a provisional ballot is determined to be an eligible voter, and if they have not voted elsewhere, then their ballot is counted. Determining eligibility and tabulating provisional ballots takes about two weeks, These results are added to the vote total three weeks after Election Day.
After each election a sample of the ballots cast are selected at random and counted by hand to verify that the scanners correctly recorded votes throughout the course of the election. The manual hand count is compared to the count produced by the scanners to verify that votes were tabulated correctly. The process of retrieval, manual counting, and verification takes about one week and is completed at the end of the canvassing period, four weeks after Election Day.
Checking signatures, damaged ballots
Whether the ballot is cast provisionally, by mail, or at the polls on Election Day, each voter signs an envelope or roster as a record of voting. The office compares the number of signatures from the polling place rosters to the number of ballots cast at that polling place to explain and/or correct any discrepancies. Reasons for discrepancies might include a voter signing on the wrong line or a voter who was casting a ballot provisionally signed both the roster and their provisional envelope.
Finally, the elections office must process ballots that are damaged or unable to be read by the machine. Usually a ballot cannot be read if it’s ripped or torn or has liqued or food stains. Roughly 2% of all ballots returned cannot be read by ballot scanners. Elections staff members then remake those electronically unreadable ballots and process them like all other ballots.
