The Registrar of Voters Does an Impressive Job, but More Transparency

The Logic and Accuracy Test of the Alameda County Registrar of Voters voting system tested only one of over a dozen ballot scanners used in the election.

During Logic and Accuracy testing, sample ballots were pre-marked by the Registrar of Voters and observers were not permitted to examine the pre-marked ballots at any time to confirm they matched the count from the ballot scanner.

Video observation (online) of the electoral process, including the ballot envelope sorting, signature verification, vote-by-mail processing, and ballot scanning, was without audio or any description to the viewer of what was happening in the video feed. 93 2024-2025 Alameda County Grand Jury Final Report ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

During the in-person observation of ballot counting on election night, members of the public were required to be onsite by 8:00 p.m. but were not allowed entry into the Registrar of Voters counting room until after 10 p.m. During this time, ballots were being wheeled into the room while observers were kept waiting in a hallway outside, and online video feed was unavailable.

Once admitted to view ballot counting in person on election night, observers were not allowed to ask any questions.

Notices by the Registrar of Voters to the public of upcoming online observation video feeds of the election processes did not identify the start times or what the processes would be. The notice stated, “An election process will be conducted today. For ongoing updates, check the website where all election processes will be posted.”

During the in-person observation of the 1% manual tally after the election, observers were given no explanation of the hand count process.

During the in-person observation of the 1% manual tally after the election, observers were not allowed to ask questions concerning the process.

In the updates of the vote counts starting on election night, it was stated that “570 of 570 Precincts Reported (100%),” giving the misleading impression that all ballots had been received or counted.

While the Registrar of Voters was reporting live results to the Secretary of State (where the results were posted on the state’s website), not all of these same results were being posted on Alameda County’s local website. The Alameda County website did not include: the cumulative total number of processed ballots, total updated number of processed ballots, vote-by-mail ballots received before and after election day, estimated total ballots remaining, or ballots left to be cured.

As reported by the Secretary of State’s website, Alameda County still had an estimated 187,135 ballots out of 683,644 total ballots cast remaining to be counted 10 days after the election. 94 2024-2025 Alameda County Grand Jury Final Report ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alameda County’s election results were updated on the website five times on election night but not updated daily after the election.

Delays in the tabulation and reporting of election results by the Registrar of Voters are caused in part by insufficient facilities, lack of equipment, and low staffing during ballot processing and counting.