PITTSBURGH —
Allegheny County’s director of elections outlined the strict security protocols in place to ensure ballots are handled securely and counted accurately for Election Day.
“Your ballot is counted on Election Day, and it’s counted correctly. We test every piece of equipment used, and we test every configuration of people voting ballots to make sure that everything works, and works correctly,” said David Voye, the county’s director of elections.
Voye explained that testing begins weeks ahead of time and continues on Election Day. For mail-in voting, he described the process each ballot follows.
“Our warehouse is directly across the street from the main post office over on the North Side. We have representatives who pick up the mail every day there and bring them into our warehouse. The ballots that are mailed in have a barcode on them,” Voye said.
Once scanned into the system, voters who provided an email address will receive an update confirming their ballot was received.
“You will get an update saying that your ballot was received, and the system is marked as previously voted. Those ballots are put into a locked cage. Those cages are locked, and they are under 24-hour camera surveillance, and they’re not brought back out until 7 a.m. election morning,” Voye said.
For voters who choose to drop off their mail-in ballots at a drop box location, Voye described the security measures in place.
“Our boxes are manned with county employees. You hand them your ballot, and they’ll ask you, ‘Is this your ballot? Did you sign your ballot?’ They’ll check it to make sure you signed it and dated it properly, and they will put it in the ballot drop box,” Voye said.
Allegheny County also detailed additional security measures, including how often passwords are changed on election equipment and the use of outside agencies to perform independent testing.