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Others might have seen the recent fire at the San Benito County Elections building as a disaster, but County Clerk-Recorder and Registrar of Voters Francisco Diaz sees it as an opportunity for modernization and improved public access as his office moves to its new location at 1601 Lana Way in Hollister.
“Our old building didn’t allow for security enhancements,” he said. “We could not put in video surveillance cameras or motion detectors because of the asbestos in the walls. It didn’t even have a water sprinkler or fire alarm system.”
The new green-certified facility, about half a mile from the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office, has all that and more, starting with a front office layout that brings employees closer to the public. Instead of waiting in line to talk to a clerk who is standing behind a plexiglass window, the right side of the new office features comfortable chairs at a sit-down counter.
“We’re trying to have more of a customer-oriented type of service,” Diaz said. “You will have someone that’s personally assisting you with any birth, death or marriage certificates, house deeds or any other transactions like that.”
The left side still has the less personal plexiglass window, which serves a different purpose. During elections, this is where the public can watch the process as ballots come in for signature checking.
In previous years, the ability to watch the ballot handling process was limited by distance. Spectators were allowed, but had to stay behind a barrier. Diaz is trying to make the experience more accessible.
“You’re going to be able to stand here and see everything,” he said. “You’ll be able to see the ballots, what signatures we are looking at and all the comparisons. And we’re also going to allow some people to go in there, right in the middle, to observe the process.”
The office also features all new equipment, from the computers and monitors to the vote-counting machinery. While everything at the old office suffered some level of damage from smoke and ash, as well as asbestos dust, Diaz said, “We could no longer use that equipment because the chain of custody was broken.
“We had a large number of people coming in and out of the facility and could not guarantee things had not been tampered with.”
All of the equipment used in the office had to be certified by the vendor through the California Secretary of State’s office and then, Diaz said, was rigorously tested by the Elections Office staff.
Around 5,000 mock ballots were created using the names of candidates from previous elections and then counted multiple times in multiple variations to simulate an actual election.
“If they all tally correctly 100%, that’s good,” Diaz said. “If any of them do not tally correctly, the machines have to be pulled. We do the same thing before and after every election.”
Diaz said the fire did not result in any loss of the county’s records. Besides constant cloud backups, incremental backups are made on physical media, which is then stored at an Iron Mountain facility in Nevada. Pre-computer record books also survived the fire and are stored in the office’s second floor.
All of the equipment is stored under lock and key in a large warehouse-like space at the rear of the office. There are also four “technology enclosures,” essentially large secured cages where the work of screening and counting ballots will take place.
Security here is the tightest in the building. There are cameras and motion sensors, as well as a fire suppression system. None of the computers are connected to the internet. Information can only be retrieved via flash drives which have their own security checks.
On election day, the area will be open to the public as a polling place. No longer limited to a fixed seating area, spectators will be able to walk around the enclosures, observing from different angles the ballots as they are brought in and processed.
One enclosure has a machine that registers mailed-in or dropped-off ballots, photographs them, and tracks them against the voter rolls. A second enclosure will hold the people who will be checking the ballots for completeness and errors. Those ballots will be examined in a third enclosure, where people will determine if the voter’s intentions on unclear ballots can be established—and the public will have closer access to screens displaying the ballots as they are being checked.
“We’re trying to keep it as transparent as possible,” Diaz said. “On election night, we’re going to have chairs all through here and people are going to be able to stay here and just watch. For those who can’t make it in, we are going to livestream it, if we can work out the logistics.”
Transparency in all things is important to Diaz. He said he is available to discuss ballot counting and security with anyone who has concerns, including one recent visitor who challenged him to open a locked closet on the site.
“I happily opened the door for him and let him look inside,” he said. “We have nothing to hide here. You want to see what I keep in my desk? I’ll pull the drawers out for you.”
On Jan. 18, the Elections Office is hosting an open house from noon to 2 p.m. The event includes a flag-raising ceremony, interactive election art, a guided tour and light refreshments.
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