By Pamela Bacon
September 7, 2022
ELECTION NEWS:
MAKE A PLAN TO VOTE!
Chain of Custody of Ballots
County clerks process and count ballots in secure facilities with the help of bi-partisan election judges; Secretary of State staff do not count ballots. Security measures include security locks on entry points. Entrance to these areas is limited to employees and election judges who have passed background checks, and all entries into these rooms must be logged.
When Colorado voters return their marked mail ballots to a standalone ballot drop box or to a ballot box in a Voter Service and Polling Center, teams of election judges from differing political affiliations collect the returned ballots and place them in transport containers sealed with tamper-evident seals that contain unique serial numbers. Similarly, teams of bipartisan election judges also process mail ballots that are received by mail from the United States Post Office.
These collection teams must maintain documented chain-of-custody of the collected ballots by making an entry in a chain-of-custody log. Each log entry includes the date, time and location of collection, the serial numbers of the affixed seals, and election judges' signatures. All seals affixed to the device or container must remain intact throughout the transportation process, which is verified by a different team of bipartisan election judges at the county’s receiving location.
Once the receiving team verifies that the seals are intact and no one has tampered with the containers’ contents during transport, the seals are broken and the containers opened, and the mail ballot return envelopes are received or entered into the statewide voter registration system, SCORE.
The signatures on the mail ballot return envelopes are then verified electronically or by an election judge and, if the signature is accepted, the enclosed ballot is scanned or counted. If the signature is not accepted, a team of bipartisan judges will review the signature.
Chain-of-custody is a fundamental security protection for every ballot counted, and county clerks must retain all chain-of-custody logs for 25 months after the election.
Once mail ballot envelopes containing voted ballots are received at the county central count facilities, they are processed and retained to ensure the integrity of the count. Once separated from their return envelopes, teams of election judges from different political affiliations compile ballot batches for scanning. All scanned ballots are stored in sealed containers and maintained in the same batches and order as they were scanned. Maintaining ballots in the same batches and order enables the bipartisan county audit boards to retrieve specific, randomly selected ballots for review during the post-election risk-limiting audit.
IMPORTANT DATES FOR 2022 GENERAL ELECTION:
- October 17 – 21, 2022: Ballots will be mailed to all active eligible electors.
- October 17, 2022, Monday: Last day to submit an application to register to vote through a voter registration drive. (no later than 22 days before the election)
- October 31, 2022, Monday: Last day to submit an application to register to vote through the mail, a voter registration agency, a local driver’s license examination facility, or online to receive a ballot in the mail for the General Election. (Through the 8th day prior to the election)
- November 1, 2022, Tuesday: Last day to file an absentee ballot application to receive the absentee ballot by mail if you are absent from your home address.
- October 31, 2022, Monday – November 8, 2022, Tuesday: Voters can register to vote, obtain a replacement ballot or drop off their mail in ballots in person at the Logan County Clerk & Recorder’s Office 315 Main Street, Suite 3, Sterling, CO 80751
- Logan County Clerk and Recorder’s Office Election Department will be open on Saturday, November 5, 2022, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. for ballot drop off, replacement ballots.
- November 8, 2022: ELECTION DAY
Voter Service and Polling Centers:
Logan County Clerk and Recorder’s Office is open 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. 315 Main Street, Suite 3, Sterling, CO 80751
ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS AVAILABLE ON ELECTION DAY ONLY
Logan County Heritage Center, 821 N. Division Ave., Sterling
Logan County Extension Office, 508 S. 10th Ave., Sterling
Tuesday November 8, 2022, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
BallotTrax is a free service for Logan County Voters that allows you to track the status of your ballot online, as well as receive messages by text, phone or email when your ballot has been sent to you and received by our Elections Division. Logan County voters may sign up at votelogancounty.ballottrax.net
The Election and Recording Department can be reached at 522-1544 for voter and election questions or recording information. The Motor Vehicle Department can be reached at 522-1158 for license plates/renewals or titling a vehicle. You can also reach our office by email at baconp@logancountyco.gov . Like us on Facebook at Logan County Elections/MotorVehicle/Recording