Join live on the Elmore County YouTube Channel  Thursday, May 28^th at 9:00am Mountain Time for the continuation of the opening of the ballots!

We will be doing the opening process continuing this week (May 28-May 29) from 9:15 to 4:30, and possibly Monday and Tuesday next week, depending on how quickly we can get these ballots opened.

*All persons opening ballots are employees of the Elmore County Clerk’s office.

Initially, ballots that have been received up to this point will be opened one precinct at a time.  Ballots that will be received this coming week will be opened and added to the locked ballot boxes later this week.

Description of the Elmore County ballot opening process:

• The white signature envelopes will be opened first, with the signature facing away from the persons opening the ballots, and the inside manila “voted ballot” envelope will be taken out and all white envelopes will be boxed up and set aside.  This process ensures that a “voted ballot” envelope cannot be associated with the white “signature” envelope, thus keeping the secrecy of the voter’s ballot.
• Once all the “voted ballot” envelopes are separated from the white envelopes, these envelopes will be opened, and the ballots removed.  A tally of the number of ballots each person opens will be marked on a board, so we can stay in balance with the number of ballots we have received to the number of ballots being opened.
• Once an entire precinct is opened, those ballots will be placed into a ballot box and the ballot box will be kept locked until it is opened on June 2, 2020, when the ballots will be counted.  Any ballots that are being opened after the ballot boxes are locked will be placed in the appropriate ballot box through an opening in the top of the ballot box while keeping the ballot box locked.
• During the entire ballot opening process AND when the ballot process is not being conducted and while the courthouse is closed, the locked ballot boxes will stay in the locked room equipped with a 24-hour security surveillance camera to ensure total security of the ballots until they are counted on June 2, 2020.