Methodical process ensures accurate count of absentee ballots, local election officials say

When it comes time to verify absentee ballots, the Tulsa County Election Board and its auxiliary members go to the back of the building — past offices and restrooms and stacks of this and that — to a large room with no windows.

The meeting is called to order; Election Board Secretary Gwen Freeman stands and reads an official statement reminding staff that they shall not substitute their “own personal preference or judgment in place of the requirements established by law”; and then the ballots are rolled into the room inside a plastic bucket with three metal locks.

Holding the keys to locks are the three members of the Election Board, who also have the final say over whether an absentee ballot is rejected. The members include George Wiland, representing the Tulsa County Republican Party; Bruce Niemi, representing the Tulsa County Democratic Party; and Freeman.

Once the bucket is opened, the process of verifying that absentee ballots have been completed begins. This is not about counting ballots. It’s about ensuring that voters have completed their absentee ballots properly and included the proper verification.

The counting of absentee ballots happens after the polls close on election day, when the Tulsa County Election Board sends the information it has scanned from the ballots directly to the Oklahoma State Election Board on a secure line.

It’s as simple as plugging a thumb drive into a computer, and local election officials never know the results.

It’s all part of the state’s mandated absentee ballot-counting process.

“A lot of people will call us and say, ‘How are we looking?’ Well, I don’t know,” Freeman said. “I have no idea how we’re looking. I don’t know who’s winning.”

The Tulsa County Election Board sent out 27,605 absentee ballots for Tuesday’s elections. In 2016, the last time Tulsans voted for mayor, the board sent out fewer than 7,000.

In both years, the absentee ballots were sent out not only for Tulsa’s municipal elections but also for state primaries and sales tax and bond initiatives in the suburbs.

On Tuesday, the Election Board made four trips to the Post Office to pick up absentee ballots, including one just before the polls closed at 7 p.m.

“I have been really pleased to see how it all works,” said Jim Allen, an auxiliary board member.

Allen, 65, said the job is not that difficult and doesn’t require a lot of training.

“The key is there is a lot of repetition, and you have to have 100% accuracy,” he said.

Gloria Cassell has been helping process absentee ballots for 12 years. She said the system has improved over the years with new machines and new procedures.

“If they (the public) knew all the things that we do to make sure that their ballot is counted, they would be amazed,” she said. “I am even surprised.”

Allen and Cassell were among about a dozen auxiliary Election Board members who processed absentee ballots Tuesday. They were each paid $100 for the day — the same as precinct workers.

Freeman said the Election Board and auxiliary board members began processing absentee ballots for Tuesday’s election in early August to ensure that they would not be overwhelmed with ballots on Election Day.

By the end of the day Monday, more than 16,000 absentee ballots had been returned to the Election Board, and just about all of them had been processed.

Freeman said she was proud of how her office handled the crush of ballots.

“When you are listening to this national news and listening to all these national stories about voting, especially about absentee voting, you need to remember that Oklahoma has been doing it a long time; it has been doing it successfully,” said Freeman.

“They (the public) can feel comfortable and confident in the system when they vote absentee.”

Featured video