Election Finalized: Record 3.368 million ballots cast

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  
December 3, 2008                                CONTACT:        Marcia Ventura (562) 462-2726 or
                                                Eileen Shea       (562) 462-2648              
       

L.A. COUNTY FINALIZES RECORD SETTING

2008 VOTE COUNT

Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan certified and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors declared final the election results for the historic November 4, 2008 Presidential General Election.  Results certification took place on Monday, December 1, 2008 and followed a 28-day detailed canvassing period involving a multitude of tasks that ensured processing all valid ballots, accounted for all election supplies and equipment utilized during the election, and provided for an audit and reconciliation of  election returns.

“Activities associated with canvassing the election and certifying the returns are tedious and detailed,” said Logan, “but they are essential to the transparency and accountability of the elections process.” During Canvass activities, Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk staff processed vote by mail ballots and researched the eligibility of voters who cast provisional ballots to determine those that were valid for inclusion in the final election returns. The Canvass concludes with the certification and issuance of official election results.

There were 2,695,894 ballots counted on Election Night.  This included 377,205 returned vote by mail ballots and 2,318,689 ballots cast at polling locations on Election Day.  The Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk validated and added an additional 672,163 ballots during the four-week canvassing period for a final record-setting total of 3,368,057 ballots cast. 

Among the ballots processed and added during the post-election canvass period were: 

·       Vote by mail ballots received the day before or the day of the election. (NOTE: by law, all vote by mail ballots received by mail must be signature-verified prior to removal from envelopes for counting);

·       Provisional ballots cast on Election Day by persons whose names were not on the voter file or who appeared at a polling location other than the one noted on their voter registration record. These ballots required verification of each voter’s eligibility prior to counting. (NOTE:  85% of provisional ballots were validated and counted);

·       Ballots cast on Election Day but which had to be re-made and/or enhanced prior to counting primarily due to voters casting ballots outside of their assigned voting precincts or due to torn/damaged ballots that could not be processed through the vote tabulation equipment; and

·       Ballots containing write-in votes for candidates not listed on the ballot that staff must manually verify prior to counting.

Out of 3,368,057 ballots cast in the election, 2,557,835 (or 75.94%) were cast at one of the county’s 4,394 polling locations on Election Day. 810,222 (or 24.06%) were cast using vote by mail ballots – an all time record for Los Angeles County.  “There were more ballots cast in total, more ballots cast by mail and more voters registered in Los Angeles County than in any prior election dating back to 1968,” noted Logan.  Turnout represented 81.92% of the published, pre-election registered voter total and 77.6% of the final record registration of 4,340,359 eligible voters.

In addition to completing the final vote count, the post-election canvassing activities included the legally required manual tally and comparison of all ballots cast in a 1 percent random selection of the county’s 4,883 voting precincts. This process involved hand counting 103,715 ballots from 193 precincts.  The Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk conducted all canvass and manual count activities publicly with observers present.    

More than 600 regular and temporary Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk staff worked to accomplish the complex ballot counting and vote auditing tasks during the allotted 28-day period prior to this week’s certification.  Additionally, more than 25,000 volunteer pollworkers and precinct coordinators assisted voters on Election Day contributing to a well-run election. 

“I would like to thank the more than twenty-five thousand community members who gave of their time to serve the voters as pollworkers on Election Day. They are the cornerstone of our democracy and absolutely vital to the successful administration of elections in Los Angeles County,” stated Logan. 

Persons requiring multilingual assistance in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog/Filipino, or Vietnamese regarding information in this press release, may call (800) 481-8683.

 

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