Registrar of Voters Will Count Recovered Ballots in Official Election Results
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIF – The Registrar of Voters (ROV) has completed the examination of the ballots found near Highway 17, and the majority of those ballots are being counted to be included in the official results of the November election.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) recovered 36 ballots, which were turned over to the ROV on the afternoon of Monday, November 14. Under California elections law, the ballots can be counted if they are postmarked or dated on or before Election Day, or if the USPS confirms that they were mailed by Election Day. These ballots were subject to the same validation and signature verification processes as all other mail ballots before they were counted. The ROV is unable to count ballots whose envelopes have been opened or sufficiently torn such that the ballot may have been tampered with.
Of the 36 ballots, 31 could be verified and were approved to be counted, 4 ballots had open envelopes, and 1 ballot had a signature that did not match the voter’s signature on file. The ROV will notify affected voters regarding the status of their ballots.