Once the polls close tonight, the paper ballots will be transported to the Registrar of Voter’s office to be tallied. San Diego Registrar of Voters Deborah Seiler says the results will take longer to tally than usual.
Seiler says that is because the Secretary of State de-certified electronic voting machines, and San Diego only has about 100 optical scanners to count the paper ballots.
Seiler : It will be a very long night , we anticipate that we may be counting from 8 p.m. when the polls close to 8 o clock the next morning, conceivably. We hope that it goes faster than that but we are braced for a very, very long night.
Nicole Winger of the California’s Secretary of State ’s Office says most California counties, including Los Angeles, use paper ballots and manage to count them in good time.
Winger says Debra Bowen is confident San Diego can too.
Winger : Secretary of state Bowen’s top priority is accuracy, candidates and the media will just have to wait, but knowing that when the results are announced, they will be accurate.
There is little indication that Bowen will recertify electronic voting machines for general use any time soon.