by Jackie Nunnery
LANCASTER—There are many days and many steps taken to ensure a fair and accurate result is certified before and after Election Day, November 3.
According to the Virginia Department of Elections (ELECT) it starts with maintaining accurate voter lists. “ELECT receives data from multiple state and federal agencies to achieve this” on a daily basis. According to the election website, ELECT also has data sharing partnerships with 40 other states.
Early voting began September 18 and absentee ballots are received by the Lancaster County Voter Registration Office on a daily basis, according to registrar Susan Jett. To ensure registered voters only vote once, every voter, including those who request an absentee ballot, are noted in the statewide VERIS database. Those that request an absentee ballot are first marked “issued” and “marked” once the ballot is received by the registrar’s office.
Jett said the absentee ballots are set aside in a locked vault. They are “pre-processed,” meaning checked to make sure all of the required information on the outside of the “B envelope” is correct. If something is missing……
