Elbert County Democratic Party
NEWS TO NOTE:
Election Integrity in Elbert
It has been my privilege to work as an election judge for about 35 years. I have been the lead judge for the Democratic Party in Elbert County since 2019. It feels like important work to me. The equipment and processes are always improving, making every election new and different.
There has been much discussion in the media about the lack of security and potential for fraud in our elections. However, none of these reports explain the voting process or the process for handling and counting ballots. The objective of this article is to acquaint you with the process utilized in Elbert County to gather and count ballots.
Several of your friends and neighbors have undergone training to assume the role of election judge. Each county is required to train enough bipartisan teams to handle every aspect of each election. Before the ballots are processed, your local election judges work with your County Clerk to certify all election equipment. We call this the Logic and Accuracy Test. Randomly marked sample ballots are run through the entire process, and the results are compared to ensure that the equipment is working perfectly.
The state of Colorado utilizes mail in ballots, as do many other states. In Colorado 98% of citizens vote via mail in ballots. The remaining voters chose to come in person, as is their right and privilege. In person votes are ultimately recorded on the same paper ballot that is sent by mail. If you sign up for Ballottrax, (https://ballottrax.coloradosos.gov/voter/) a notification will be sent to you as soon as your ballot is received. After your signature has been verified you will receive another notification.
Thank you for being a registered voter in Elbert County! Several weeks before Election Day your ballot arrives in the mail. You mark your choices on the ballot as instructed and place it in the enclosed envelope. You remember to sign the envelope and either mail it at your post office or place it in a ballot drop box located at various sites in the county. Smile! There is a camera recording all activity at the drop box sites.
Two Election Judges that are registered with opposing parties will pick up the ballots from the drop boxes and post offices at various times throughout the day and place them in a specially designated bag. They then close and seal the bag. An accompanying chain of custody log lists the date and time the ballots were collected, and the seal number is signed by both judges.
Every ballot that is processed is handled by a Democrat and Republican election judge. These judges will handle your ballot in rooms with full-time surveillance cameras.
The bags containing the ballots are returned to the County Clerks election office in the Samuel Elbert Building in Kiowa. The seals are cut, the bags opened and a bipartisan team of judges signs the chain of custody log. The envelopes are sorted into batches of 25, before being fed into a scanner unopened. This scanner is picking up the voter ID from a barcode on the envelope, and this is when the first notification is generated that your envelope was received. This scanner is also recording your signature on the envelope. Elbert County uses signature matching software to compare the new signature to the most recent signature on record. If the signatures are a reasonable match, the ballot is accepted. If there is a discrepancy, the envelope is reviewed by a bipartisan team of judges. These judges have access to more signatures in your record and can often find a match.
If the judges reject the signature because they cannot find a good match in the record, the envelope is referred to the County Clerk. If the ballot can be cured, the clerk notifies the voter of the signature discrepancy, and the voter has eight days to return a good signature. This may be done online so the voter doesn’t have to travel to Kiowa.
Stuff to do...
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Simla's Annual Labor Day
September 7
Hamburger Fry & Friends Booksale
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Kiows Fall Festival
October 10
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After your signature is verified, your ballot is then sent forth to be opened and the ballots removed. Your ballot is then inspected by a bipartisan team for stray marks or tears that may impact the counting of your votes. Your ballot is now separated from the envelope, so your identity and how you voted is anonymous. The empty envelopes are retained and stored.
Your ballot will be included in a batch of 50 waiting to be scanned and tabulated. Elbert County currently uses Clear Ballot for their election software. This is the fun part! Your ballot is scanned and tabulated and the results are banked by the Clear Ballot software. The results are encrypted until 7pm on Election Day. Even though the votes are being tabulated, no one knows the outcome until the election closes. The actual paper ballots are stored, and the scanned image of each ballot is stored in the Clear Ballot system.
During tabulation a ballot may be flagged for a possible error by the system. In that case, the ballot will be sent electronically to a batch for judges to “adjudicate.” This can happen when a voter filled the bubble for a candidate and then changed their mind. The voter may have crossed out the unwanted vote, but the scanner sees it as an overvote. A bipartisan team of judges will look at the scan of that ballot and determine the voter’s intent. The Judges can then remove the unwanted vote electronically.
What happens after all the votes have been counted? At 7pm on Election Day the polls close. Only votes received by the end of election day are counted (there are some exceptions for overseas voters, ballots waiting for signature cures and for person’s who were already in line by 7pm). Each county can pull reports of their own results after the polls close. The results are transmitted via secure line to the Secretary of State, along with ballot results from all the counties in the state. It may take a day or two to finish tabulating and get all results to the SOS. The election is officially closed 8 days after the election when all eligible ballots are in hand.
Election security does not end there! A rigorous audit is conducted after every election. The Secretary of State sends each county a list of ballots to audit. These have been randomly selected. The chosen ballots are pulled and compared to how they were tabulated. If they match, the election audit has been passed. Any discrepancies are investigated. To date all audits in our county have passed.
Understanding our process should give voters confidence that in Elbert County our citizens are working to protect our election integrity and assure that we have fair and free elections. If a voter is still unsure of the process, it is easy to sign up to be a “watcher.” Being in the room to see first-hand how it is done is a great way to stay informed.
by Alessandra Navetta
Healthcare in America 2026
For Profit Insurance vs. Taxation funded
There are many factors which contribute to the high cost of healthcare, in America. What first needs to be understood is the difference in the American healthcare system in comparison to systems that provide universal healthcare to its citizens.
Leaders in in America have over the years talked about providing universal healthcare to its citizens. However, that has not happened. In order to appreciate why this has not happened, an understanding of the differences in delivery of healthcare in the United States versus our nearest neighbor, Canada, may be helpful.
In Canada, each province ( there are ten) and each territory ( three) has its own healthcare system. However, the standards for healthcare delivery are established by the federal government, and funded through taxation. Healthcare services are provided at hospitals and physician offices at no charge. Private insurance is also available to cover services not universally provided. Individuals may purchase this additional insurance, or employers may offer it as a benefit of employment. However, the majority of healthcare is provided through the government system.
Physicians function independently but receive compensation from the government for the services they provide.
Studies have shown, that under this system the cost per patient is half the cost of the insurance based system that exists in the United States. Life expectancy is higher in Canada than the United States. Although it has been reported that there are delays in the scheduling of elective procedures, this does not seem to have impacted mortality
The vast majority of of hospitals in Canada are nonprofit. They are funded by the federal government. Some for profit hospitals exist, usually for speciality services and they receive government compensation for approved covered services. In Canada, for the most part a for profit healthcare system does not exist.
'The United States healthcare system has a long convoluted history ( too long to discuss here) bringing us to our present day system. In America, healthcare is delivered through a variety of health insurance programs. Some such as Medicare and Medicaid are government controlled and partially funded through taxes paid during a workers working years. Other insurance programs such as Humana or Blue Cross are for profit corporations. This insurance is purchased by individuals, or employers who offer the insurance as a benefit of employment. There are a myriad of policies which cover different services, charge different premium amounts, and include differing deductibles and copays. The terms of the policies are negotiated by employers or unions. The larger employers or unions ( with a younger, healthier workers force) usually offering the best terms.
